Pro-poor Market for Ecosystem Services
Economic instruments, including the creation of markets, are increasingly being recognized as having a significant role to play in the implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), in addition to spearheading sustainable development and poverty reduction. These instruments can generate financial resources, divert funds to environmentally friendly technologies, generate incentives for investment, and increase the involvement of private sector in environmental protection. UNEP plays a key role in identifying approaches that could demonstrate how market-based instruments for ecosystem services can be used effectively and advance the objectives of the MEAs.
At the High-Level Brainstorming Workshop on Creating Pro-Poor Markets for Ecosystem Services, organized by UNEP and the London School of Economics in October 2005, UNEP was requested to further strengthen its focus on the pro-poor market for ecosystem ser ices. Based on the recommendations developed through the Workshop, UNEP is undertaking a series of activities, which aim to provide policy guidance for the harmonized implementation of MEAs and international development objectives such as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), through the identification of appropriate economic and market instruments.
List of activities
- UNEP-International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) Joint Initiative on Sustaining the Value of Ecosystem Services in the Lake Victoria Basin: Harmonizing Poverty Reduction and Environment Management Objectives (November 2006 to March 2008)
- Sub-global assessment using MA conceptual framework
- Valuation of ecosystem services
- Development of payments for ecosystem services
- Development of equity principle for payments for ecosystem services
- Co-sponsorship for the 2006 East & Southern Africa Katoomba Group Workshop on Catalyzing Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) in Africa: Planning for 2007 and Beyond, Cape Town, South Africa, 8-10 November 2006
- Participation in the development of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Rules on Payments for Ecosystem Services in Integrated Water Resources Management
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