What is PES?
Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), is a mechanism for valuing a variety of environmental
services that involve those who benefit from those services “paying” those who protect or sustainably manage those services. PES payments are generated by creating “marketplaces” for ecosystem services and through direct contracts locally between beneficiaries of the service and the providers.
What is REDD?
REDD is the United Nations collaborative initiative on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) in developing countries. REDD is a form of PES and was launched in 2008. Unlike the Kyoto Protocol that did not recognize “additionality” from protecting existing forests, REDD provides a marketplace option for forest carbon sales to benefit rural communities who protect and sustainably manage their forests.
CFI tackles Climate Change & Rural Poverty through PES/REDD Projects
CFI ‘s climate change projects focus on the forest environment and the role that trees play in sequestering or storing CO2 from the atmosphere. Sequestering carbon helps balance the emissions that are driving global climate change. CFI’s projects involve rural community organizations in the management and marketing of environmental and energy services, with a primary focus on forests. By helping communities certify their PES/REDD projects, communities are able to participate in the international carbon credit marketplace. CFI’s projects are designed to create a blueprint for financially sustainable and scalable strategies that enhance the livelihoods of the rural poor by transforming unproductive wastelands into a productive resource, drawing financing for reforestation from carbon credit sales.
Northeast India: In 2013, CFI helped design India’s first REDD project. For more information, click here. http://communityforestryinternational.org/redd-carbon-sales
Cambodia: In 2009, CFI completed the design phase of one of the world’s first REDD projects in Cambodia that is projected to generate $30 million over the next 20 years in carbon payments for 55 participating community SME’s. For more information, click here. http://communityforestryinternational.org/archived-projects