Workshop on Compensation and Payment for Ecosystem Services with Communities in Central America
Details
Note: Yale School of the Environment (YSE) was formerly known as the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). News articles and events posted prior to July 1, 2020, refer to the School's name at that time.
Summary
This five-day workshop was designed to provide a basic introduction for community leaders and technical staff from NGOs and other organizations that work with local communities on compensation and payments for environmental services. Through a series of lectures, case study presentations, field visits, group exercises, and a project clinic, participants learned the basics about PES initiatives so that they are better equipped to decide if they would like to develop a PES project in their community. Participants had the opportunity to form a network of peers from the region with whom they can continue discussing PES. If interested, participants can work with their peers to develop a PES project, as well as explore additional training opportunities on PES and other topics related to the conservation and restoration of tropical forests.
Content
Day 1
- Module 1: Ecological principles and social aspects of landscape-level conservation and restoration
- Module 2: An introduction to ecosystem services
- Module 3: Compensation and payments for ecosystem services: origin, concepts, and structure
- Case Study #1: Payments for ecosystem services, cacao, and communities
- Module 4: Risks, benefits, and opportunities of payments for ecosystem services for communities
Day 2
- Module 5: Legal frameworks for payments for ecosystem services in Central America
- Module 6: Payments for ecosystem services: water
- Case Study #2: Payments for ecosystem services related to water in Teculután, Guatemala
- Case Study #3: The water management association in the southern sector of Pico Bonito National Park, Honduras
- Module 7: Payments for ecosystem services: carbon
Day 3
- Field Trip: Pico Bonito Forests
- Case Study #4: Pico Bonito Forests: a case of afforestation/reforestation
- Case Study #5: The Ipetí community: payments for carbon credits with a reforestation project
Day 4
- Module 8: Continuation of Payments for ecosystem services related to carbon: REDD+
- Module 9: Importance of social and environmental standards for REDD+
- Module 10: REDD+ negotiations: what happened in Copenhagen and where do we go from here?
- Case Study #6: Forest concessions, REDD, and the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala
Day 5
- Project Clinic: Conceptualizing community-based compensation and payments for ecosystem services projects