Background information

IDRC the consortium to help conceptualize and develop a Rural Poverty and Environment (RPE) programme related to Compensation and Rewards for Environmental Services (CRES) by providing an overview of relevant developments in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The team was also to develop a global synthesis of results and recommendations

Besides ICRAF, the consortium included the following partners and collaborators based in seven countries across four continents. These are:

• The African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS)  www.acts.or.ke
• Corporación Grupo Randi Randi (CGRR)  www.randirandi.org
• Forest Trends www.forest-trends.org
• The Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) www.isec.ac
• The World Conservation Union (IUCN) www.iucn.org
• The United Nations Environment Programme www.unep.org The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) http://www.worldagroforestry.org

The scoping study involved the development of several multi-authored issue papers, plus regional workshops in Latin America (Quito), Asia (Bangalore) and Africa (Nairobi).  Participants in the regional workshops presented and discussed practical experiences with compensation and reward for ecosystem services from across the developing world. These diverse experiences informed the synthesis discussions in the cross-cutting papers included in the newly published series.

The specific objectives of the study were to:

1.  
   Review and synthesize information on recent development, current status, and likely future development of mechanisms of compensation for ecosystem services in Latin America, Africa and Asia. 
2. Review evidence, solicit stakeholder perceptions, and identify knowledge gaps related to key issues affecting the potential for mechanisms of compensation for ecosystem services to alleviate rural poverty and conserve ecosystem function in Latin America, Africa and Asia. 
3. Identify and discuss a set of knowledge gaps, policy issues, and research questions that link compensation for ecosystem services with the RPE focal areas of environmental governance, access and rights to natural resources, community integration with wider socio-economic systems, and adaptive learning in key hotspots of rural poverty and environmental degradation.  In particular, suggest ways in which RPE might support research on these issues by Southern researchers.
   

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