This report in two parts titled "Feasibility of Payments for Watershed Services" is an outcome of a literature review taken up as part of the India PES Project, a collaborative initiative of CISED and NIVA.
Part I of the report, contains a review of seminal papers on PES. The literature is reviewed for feasibility criteria of establishing PES with a focus on Payments for Watershed Services (PWS). Examples of currently functioning PWS are reviewed from India and Asia.
Part II of the report contains a review of international programmes working in PES in Asia, research and consulting organisations working in this field, a review of expertise required to carry out rapid appraisals for watershed services and an annotated bibliography for the combined literature review done in Part I and II.
The India-PES initiative, was a collaborative effort undertaken on a pilot basis, by CISED and NIVA, for the development of integrated tools and consulting services for Watershed Management and 'Payments for Environmental Services' (PES) in India. Tools and methodologies developed as part of this initiative were tested in the Malaprabha river basin in the state of Karnataka, and the PES implementation was focussed on Participatory Irrigation Management. For more info on this initiative, please see here.
CISED is an autonomous centre promoted by the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) for bridging the social and natural sciences. It promotes environmentally sound and socially just development by contributing critically and constructively to public and academic debates. For more info on this initiative, please check here
NIVA is Norway's leading multidisciplinary research institute in the field of use and protection of water bodies and water quality, in fresh and marine waters. For more info, please check here