The ABCs of water trading

Vittel’s deal with upstream farmers to maintain water quality essential to the mineral water plant, New York city’s payment to upstream farmers to protect the city’s watershed for improved (and cheaper) water filtration as well as Panama’s efforts to maintain the Panama Canal Watershed are all famous examples of payments for ecosystem services (or payments for watershed services). Examples of water trading schemes include wetlands as ‘savings accounts’ for cheaper (and often more efficient) water and waste filtration, Australia’s water trading regime where water is traded as a commodity as common as electricity, or watershed pollution control arrangements. In developing countries, clean drinking water is often most expensive for the poorest communities and establishing a trading scheme could, arguably, reduce industrial waste and enable more efficient water delivery. Establishing trading regimes could also create further social inequalities in societies marked by poor institutional arrangements. Despite this important concern, water trading regimes, if implemented properly, can fundamentally drive change. At the private event at June’s Global Katoomba XII meeting, participants worked to advance several nascent market initiatives aimed at reducing nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Participants discussed previous market based schemes aimed at improving the water quality of the Bay and then worked in different groups to develop business plans for new initiatives. There is still a lot of work to be done, but the Katoomba Group, as well as many other participants, confirmed their commitment to the creation of a market-based scheme to improve water quality within the Bay in the years to come.

- Please see the “Private Meeting” tab on the Katoomba Chesapeake website for more information and resources regarding water trading and the Chesapeake Bay Initiative.

2008 Global Katoomba XII: Developing an Infrastructure Fund for the Planet

Senator John Kerry, John Holdren, director of the Wood’s Hole Research Center, and Governor Blairo Maggi, of Mato Grosso, Brazil were among the key speakers at June’s Global Katoomba event in Washington, DC. The event, co-hosted by The Katoomba Group, Forest Trends and the Smithsonian Institution, brought together fifty speakers from business, finance, government, communities, NGOs, and regional organizations, and over six hundred participants from more than 35 countries, The event succeeded in bringing greater focus on the challenges and opportunities of these emerging ecosystem markets both in the U.S. and around the world. While participants recognized the many challenges that lie ahead for these markets, optimism abounded about the future potential of these markets to assure future environmental sustainability.

  – Visit the Katoomba XII website for more information about the event.

Marketing the rainforest’s multiples services: a win-win situation?
By Canopy Capital Ltd

In March 2008, Canopy Capital entered into a partnership with the Iwokrama International Centre (IIC) in Guyana to measure and place a financial value on the Ecosystem Services (ES) of Iwokrama’s tropical forest. This is the first ever deal to put a market value on the bundled services provided by a rainforest, which include rainfall production, water storage, and weather moderation – utilities with global significance which are vanishing as forests fall. The deal does not give Canopy Capital any rights over the land and trees of Iwokrama, the company is simply buying a license to market its ES for 5 years, through guaranteed yearly payments to Iwokrama. This money will be used to continue the sustainable management and conservation of the Iwokrama Reserve and to provide income opportunities for the local communities who have depended on the Iwokrama forest for generations. In the longer term, 90% of investment upside will go to Iwokrama. We will keep this project on our radar to continue to provide updates and feature advances made at a later stage once again in this newsletter.

 – For more details
 – More information about the Iwokrama in Guyana
 – More information regarding the Iwokrama International Centre

‘Growing’ clean water for the Olympics: a story of divine intentions and human actions
By Katherine Ellison, China Dialogue February 18th, 2008

Beijing's strategy for clean water during the Olympics? Pay rural farmers to 'grow' it. Katherine Ellison explores China's new hope for conserving the precious natural resources it has left. Combine global warming with an already dry climate and a growing population, and you’ve got the nightmare haunting Beijing: the risk that the capital may run out of water, perhaps just in time for this year’s “green Olympics.” Last September, several Chinese government-affiliated scientists met with a team from the Natural Capital Project - a year-old partnership between Stanford University, The Nature Conservancy and WWF. The project has developed mapping and modeling software to pinpoint landscapes where conservation makes the most sense, a tool that has great potential to help the Chinese government fine-tune its concept of preserving 'ecological function zones.' In the “Viewpoint” section of the Community Forum you can learn more about Gretchen Daily, a great scientist who worked all her life to give nature’s its value.

– Read the full article entitled “Paying for Nature”
  – Learn more about the Natural Capital Project

Payments for ecosystem services and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD): findings from the UNFCCC REDD workshop
By IISD

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Workshop on Methodological Issues relating to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD) was held from 25–27 June 2008 at United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan. The workshop was part of a program of work undertaken by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) in 2008 on methodological issues related to a range of policy approaches and positive incentives for REDD. Approximately 150 participants were in attendance, representing governments, UN agencies and constituted bodies, academia, non-governmental organizations and experts. The workshop featured presentations and discussions on the development of methodologies specific to REDD (establishing reference emission levels, scale of implementation, implications and guidance), issues and challenges related to estimating, monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and options for assessing the effectiveness of actions and criteria. Participants also discussed needs and implications related to linking methodologies and policy approaches. Several countries (Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Gabon, Costa Rica and Indonesia) presented experiences and initiatives already undertaken in their respective countries. Payments and other compensations for ecosystem services were identified as key tools to avoid deforestation and land degradation. More specifically, Mexico reported on national REDD preparations including the creation of information databases regarding land cover/use dynamics and carbon stock estimates. Mexico also highlighted the existence of government programs that already reduce deforestation and degradation including payments for environmental services, sustainable forest management, sustainable community forestry, and soil conservation and restoration. The representatives from Gabon noted that there are close linkages between deforestation and forest degradation which cannot be treated separately and highlighted growing pressures on forests as a result of climate change and desertification. Costa Rican participants recounted its efforts to recover forest cover through various legal and institutional measures, including through a Payment for Environmental Services (PES) program, a consolidated system of protected areas, a ban on land use change, reforestation programs, enhancement of ecotourism, and national strategies to combat illegal logging. As challenges to maintaining carbon stocks, the operational costs of the protected areas system and other programs, and the increasing land opportunity costs given demand for timber and biofuels, were highlighted, noting that these considerations should be taken into account in any future system on REDD. These experiences show that PES schemes are probably going to be part of a wider REDD scheme and, therefore, experiences regarding opportunities and pitfalls associated with such schemes are invaluable to the design of a sound REDD mechanism.

– For more information regarding the workshop
  – Download the presentations from each country

Water scarcity of growing concern to business investors
By JPMorgan Global Equity Research and the World Resource Institute

In many parts of the world, water is increasingly scarce due to the confluence of population growth, urbanization and climate change. That makes water supplies a growing concern for business investors. Wall Street appears to be well aware of the investment opportunities in water supply infrastructure, waste water treatment, and demand management technologies. However, much less attention has been paid to the risks faced by those sectors that rely on clean water as an input into supply chains or production processes, or have waste water as an output. The report, “Watching Water: a Guide to Evaluating Corporate Risks in a Thirsty World” produced by JPMorgan Global Equity Research with WRI, explores water scarcity as an emerging investment issue and suggests ways for investors to better account for water-related risks.

This report is a first step to a valuation of water resources in the industrial sector. It does so by situating water scarcity and risk into the value chain itself and by providing sectoral examples from around the world (i.e. China, Taiwan, UK, USA etc.). It provides an interesting read from a different viewpoint to better understand and communicate with business investors.

– Read Watching Water: a Guide to Evaluating Corporate Risks in a Thirsty World
– Learn more about JPMorgan

Water and the Rural Poor: improving livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
By the FAO and IFAD

The potential exists for well-targeted, local interventions in water to contribute to the rapid improvement in the livelihoods of the rural poor in SSA; states newly published joint report entitled “Water and the Rural Poor” by IFAD and the FAO. Water-related interventions, they argue, can also help attaining Millennium Development Goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. The report argues that there are important opportunities for new investments in water but their success depend on the development of new models of interventions, centered on enhancing the diversity of livelihood conditions of rural populations. The report emphasizes that there is no “one size fits all” approach for improving livelihoods because different contexts and needs require different types of investments to guide the choice for specific interventions. To illustrate their argument, the authors divide Sub-Saharan Africa into 13 major “livelihood zones,” each zone presenting distinct opportunities for livelihood sustenance and development, different agro-ecological conditions, and different angles for water-related investments for poverty reduction. The types of interventions required rarely involve large-scale irrigation schemes, but focus on small-scale on-farm improvements - structures that are easy to operate and maintain locally and that target mainly female and male smallholders. Investments need to be made not only to water infrastructure but also to improved access to inputs including fertilizer, better seeds, and credit, as well as education, markets and fair policies. Lastly, climate change represents an additional challenge to rural people in SSA. Smallholder farmers, pastoralists and artisanal fishers in SSA are among the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change due to their limited adaptive capacity. While projections on possible changes in annual rainfall vary across Africa, these populations will experience the negative effects of increased temperature on yields, combined with a high vulnerability to extreme events. For them, enhanced control of water will become critical in building resilience to increased climate variability.

The report is accompanied by an interactive mapping tool which helps assess and establish links between water and rural livelihoods. Layers include irrigated areas, poverty zones, cultivated lands, main livelihoods zones and areas with high potential for water-related interventions.

– Read the full article
– Read the FAO/IFAD report click
– Access the interactive mapping tool

Oral histories from the Sahel: lessons from the past
By SOS Sahel and the Panos Institute

The FAO/IFAD report presented above presents a situation of high vulnerability and low adaptive capacity. On the contrary, “At the Desert’s Edge: Oral Histories from the Sahel,” published in 1992 and resulting from a the Sahelian History Project whose aim was to assess how oral histories mesh with development, is a homage to the resilience of Sahelian livelihoods. The book vividly recounts the experiences and knowledge about changing ecological conditions, livelihoods and social relationships of over 500 men and women including farmers, fishermen, pastoralists and refugees from eight Sahelian countries (Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Ethiopia). These experiences, gathered over 10 years ago, still bear relevance to present day issues. Desertification and the degradation of ecosystems, in conjunction with wider societal and economic changes, are pressures that have and are transforming Sahelian livelihoods. These dynamics are magnified by climate change which makes the weather even more unpredictable and harsh. The quote by Obo Kone, a Malian farmer still resonates deeply, “Suddenly the rain lost respect for the old cycle. Today the environment is sick, the soils are poor and hard, and the trees are dead. I believe these changes can be attributed to the fact that we have lost respect for our customs. We have violated old prohibitions to allow room for modernisation and in so doing we have disregarded God’s laws for Sahelian people and the rest of the world.” There are lessons to be learned from the stories of the elders: lessons about past failures and successes.

– Download the book free of charge
– Learn more about the Panos Institite

Beatrice Ahimbisibwe : teaching change

Beatrice Ahimbisibwe is a school teacher in the agricultural community of Bitereko in southwestern Uganda. While Ahimbisibwe is a teacher at heart, her ‘class’ is bigger than that of most school teachers’. Indeed, her wholehearted involvement in a carbon sequestration program with Ecotrust since 2003 has shown many skeptics, both local neighbors and international organizations, that growing native trees for carbon is not only beneficial for the environment, but it can also be profitable. Ahimbisibwe is part of the Bitereko Women’s Group (founded in 1994) - one of five groups growing trees for carbon in Western Uganda. The group is involved in several activities aiming to better their livelihoods including growing trees for carbon sequestration, credit and saving schemes and basket weaving using papyrus, palms and raffia for local sale and export. The group’s association with Ecotrust started in 1999 with a renewable energy project that finished in 2001 that distributed energy saving stoves to each member in addition to 150 tree seedlings for firewood. Next, a grant for 70 exotic goats allowed some members that did not get involved from the start to participate in the process. In 2003, a pilot study with five members started growing trees for carbon sequestration. Currently, 101 people have planted gardens ranging between one and eight hectares of indigenous trees (between 400-3000 trees). Out of the 101 members, 61 have found carbon buyers while 40 are still waiting to sell their carbon. Usually buyers are found through Ecotrust but Tetra Pak, Future Forests and the Katoomba group also act as intermediaries. Group members meet every second Saturday of a month to review their activities. To join, a member has to apply first and be monitored for a while before planting trees. Carbon money is paid in five installments with 30% being given at the start and 20 % in years 1, 3 and 5 and the last 10% in year 10. At the end of the 10 year cycle, members can sell their trees for timber, a significant safety net for these households. The main issue that their community-based carbon scheme faces is the lack of buyers for carbon which results in fewer funds to credit members and improve overall activities of the group.

  – Learn more about Beatrice Ahimbisibwe's extraordinary story
  – To support this great initiative contact Beatrice Ahimbisibwe.

Giving Nature its due value: biology meets economics with Gretchen Daily

Daily started her career working with Paul Ehrlich- famous for his book the Population Bomb. Despite this unorthodox start, she carved her niche at Stanford linking ecology to economics. With Katherine Ellison, Daily co-wrote the New Economy of Nature, mainstreaming market-based approaches to conserving the environment. Currently, Daily directs Stanford University's Center for Conservation Biology, one of the world's most important incubators for ideas about how to take conservation mainstream by making it profitable. Now, she is also Stanford's lead in a new program, the Natural Capital Project, linking the university to conservation powerhouses The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund. In 2008, Daily was awarded the Sophie prize for her cutting edge work linking conservation biology to economics and policy, work that according to the Sophie foundation website “created awareness of alternatives to modern-day development and/or initiated such alternatives in a pioneering or particularly inventive manner.”

  – Learn more about Gretchen Daily
  – For more information regarding Daily and the Sophie prize

Natural Capital’s new tool: A sound InVESTment? Modeling and mapping the delivery, distribution and economic value of ecosystem services

Government officials, conservation professionals, farmers, and other land owners make decisions about how to use their land all the time. Yet, never before have any of these groups had a systematic way to demonstrate the future costs and benefits of their decisions for people and the environment. In its most ground-breaking effort, the Natural Capital Project aims to meet this challenge with InVEST, a new tool that can model and map the delivery, distribution, and economic value of life-support systems (ecosystem services), well into the future. The tool will help users visualize the impacts of potential decisions, identifying tradeoffs and compatibilities between environmental, economic, and social benefits, working in biophysical and economic terms in 3 tiers (basic to more elaborate).

  – Click here for more information

Neo meets PES: the Ecosystem Marketplace brings you the matrix
Adapted from “The Matrix: Mapping Ecosystem Services” by Nathaniel Carroll and Michael Jenkins

The once-radical concept of saving the environment by documenting the economic value of environmental services and then getting industry to pay is finally catching on – but how is one to keep track of all the new methodologies and concepts? The Ecosystem Marketplace presents The Matrix, a new tool for surveying the ecosystem services landscape. The Matrix categorizes ecosystem markets by market type, commodity type (water, biodiversity, carbon, bundled, other), payment schemes, benefits to the communities (social equity) as well as opportunities and pitfalls associated with each of these.

  – Access the Matrix
  – Read the ecosystem market place full article “The Matrix: Mapping Ecosystem Services”
  – Go deeper into the Matrix

Yale Environment 360 gives you a roundabout (no pun intended) commentary on the global environment

Yale Environment 360 is a new online magazine devoted to covering global environment issues, featuring articles by noted environment writers and scientists including environmental advocate and writer, Bill McKibben; New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert; climate scientist Richard C.J. Somerville; marine biologist and author Carl Safina; British journalist Fred Pearce; and many other writers, scientists, and thinkers. Their inaugural issue features opinion, analysis, reporting, and discussion on the major environmental issues of the day — from climate change to growing water shortages and the challenge of crafting an innovative energy policy in the United States. The magazine showcases reporting from China, the Amazon, and Russia and a provocative interview with Nobel Prize-winner Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Yale Environment 360 is edited by Roger Cohn, the award-winning former editor of Audubon and Mother Jones magazines. E360 is affiliated with the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

The article by Fred Pearce, “Water scarcity: the real food crisis” is of specific interest to the community forum newsletter’s current focus on desertification. The author makes the case that behind the present food crisis lays a global water crisis whereby “a map of world food trade increasingly looks like a map of the water haves and have-nots, because in recent years the global food trade has become almost a proxy trade in water — or rather, the water needed to grow food. The trade has kept the hungry in dry lands fed. But now that system is breaking down, because there are too many buyers and not enough sellers”. In that context, giving water its proper value both in an economic, social and spiritual sense becomes essential to global present and future livelihood security.

  – Check out Yale 360
  – Read the article by Fred Pearce “Water scarcity: the real food crisis”

Public review of the draft of the 2nd edition of the Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards now open!
By Joanna Durbin, Director Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance

The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) invites you to review the Draft Second Edition of the Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards and looks forward to receiving your comments. The CCB Standards were created to enable identification of land-based carbon projects that are designed using best practices to deliver robust and credible greenhouse gas reductions while also delivering net positive benefits to local communities and biodiversity. The CCB Standards have become widely used since the release of the First Edition in May 2005 and the current revision aims to maintain their relevance and effectiveness in response to policy, market and technical changes, for example responding to opportunities related to REDD and potential use alongside new carbon accounting standards. Another objective of the revision is to improve the standards to cover the full range of potential project types and circumstances.

The Draft Second Edition has been prepared by a CCB Standards Committee composed of people from 17 organizations with diverse expertise relevant to the subject matter of the standard. We look forward to receiving feedback from a wide range of interested parties including project developers, local and other stakeholders, investors, NGOs and Government agencies so please feel free to send this message on to any relevant people or organizations.

  – Review and Comment on the Draft of the Second Edition of the CCB Standards

Tool to determine carbon emissions from specific flights

On June 18th, 2008, as part of its efforts to support the UN Climate Neutral Initiative, the UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has released a web-based tool that identifies the carbon dioxide emissions from a given flight (based on the airplane characteristics and carrying capacity). Now thanks to this new tool, frequent travelers can choose responsibly the best flight (in terms of carbon) or can choose to stay home.

  – ICAO press release
  – Use the carbon calculator

GoogleEarth tools

Climate Change In Our World is a project born to the collaboration of DFID, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Met Office Hadley Centre, the British Antarctic Survey and Google. This tool “takes you on a journey across the globe, showing temperatures over the next hundred years. It also tells the stories of people, living in some of the world’s poorest countries, who are already being affected by changing weather patterns.”

  – Follow this link to Google Earth to begin exploring Climate Change In Our World.
  – For more information

New World Bank website on Climate Change in the Middle East and North Africa

We are pleased to announce the launch of the World Bank web site on climate change in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). The site contains information on ongoing and planned World Bank activities aimed at helping MENA countries enhance their resilience to Climate Change, and move to a low carbon development path. MENA is one of the regions that is most vulnerable to climate change, due to having the highest level of water scarcity in the world, a significant dependence on climate sensitive agriculture, the concentration of populations and economic activity in flood-prone urban coastal zones, and the presence of conflict-ridden areas in which climate-induced resource scarcity could escalate violence and political turmoil even beyond the region's boundaries. Water runoff alone is projected to decrease by 20-30% by 2050 in a region already marked by stringent water scarcity. The website provides information at both a regional and country level related to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Water markets in this region could become an important tool for water conservation and development or they could fuel existing conflicts and erode social-cultural values based on water sharing.

  – Access the website

2008 East and Southern Africa Katoomba Group Meeting
Location: Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania | Dates: September 16-18, 2008

Previous regional Katoomba meetings in Uganda (2005) and South Africa (2006) demonstrated that Africans have become increasingly interested in market-based conservation strategies, including payments for ecosystem services (PES). While a number of projects are underway, PES in the East and Southern African region primarily occurs on an ad hoc basis through small-scale pilot projects. Yet, carbon markets, both regulated and voluntary, have grown rapidly and offer opportunities for new investment in rural regions of Africa. Further, the emergence of opportunities for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) makes it even more important for the countries to build their capacity in order to put in place a readiness strategy. In addition, many East and Southern African countries are facing a challenge of increasing water pollution as well as water availability. Yet, there appear to be little or no efforts to look into market based approaches to serve as one component of addressing these issues. The 2008 East and Southern African Katoomba Group meeting will offer an opportunity to explore pathways for expanding markets and payments for watershed services (PWS) as well as to start the process of developing REDD readiness strategies.Meeting topics will include 1) learning about the latest developments in the world of payments for ecosystem services (PES), related to carbon, water and biodiversity 2) exploring how water quality trading markets could help address the region's growing water pollution crisis 3) discussing the emergence of "REDD" -- efforts at reducing emissions from deforestation and ecosystem degradation -- and what opportunities it poses for East and Southern Africa, 4) considering how to expand PES applications within the region and 5) launching a PES "incubator" - serving as an "honest broker" - between potential PES projects / 'sellers' and buyers / the market.

- For more information go to the Katoomba website
- For additional information, e-mail the Katoomba Group.

Climate Change in South-Eastern Countries III: Causes, Impacts and Solutions
Location: Gratz, Austria | Deadline for submission: July 28th, 2008

We are pleased to inform you about the upcoming workshop "Climate Change in South-Eastern European Countries III: Causes, Impacts, Solutions " on the 18th and 19th September 2008 in Graz, Austria. The objectives of the workshop are specifically 1) to strengthen and improve the multidisciplinary approach to climate change related issue 2) to generate ideas for joint research projects and 3) to meet potential research partners. Researchers are encouraged to prepare abstracts for presentations and/or proposals for ideas of joint research projects.

  – Visit the website for more information.
  – Send abstracts and/or proposals to Cornelia Sterner

Adaptation of Forests and Forest Management to Changing Climate
Location: Umea, Sweden | Dates: August 25-28th, 2008

Adaptation of Forests and Forest Management to Changing Climate with Emphasis on Forest Health: A Review of Science, Policies, and Practices is convened by IUFRO-FAO-SLU. The conference will include a Special Session on “Tropical Forest Management and Climate Change Adaptation” with papers on the biophysical/silvicultural, social, institutional, and economic aspects of tropical forest management (natural and planted stands) in the context of global climate change.

  – More details are found at the Conference webpage

International Society for Ecological Economics Biennial Conference
Location: Nairobi, Kenya | Dates: August 9-11th, 2008

The conference, "ISEE 2008 NAIROBI: APPLYING ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS FOR SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY" is a joint undertaking by the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE), African Society for Ecological Economics (ASEE) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The conference to be held 7-11 August, 2008 in the United Nations conference facilities, Nairobi, Kenya, will highlight the vision, methods and policy adjustments needed for ecological economics principles to be applied to the design and management of environmentally and socially sustainable development processes. The conference seeks to build capacity in this area in developing countries in the face of increasing global change and interdependence.

The conference will highlight the vision, methods and policy adjustments needed for ecological economics principles to be applied to the design and management of environmentally and socially sustainable development processes.

  – For more information

Working Forests in the Tropics
Location: Gainesville, Florida, USA | Dates: October 6-7th, 2008

The purpose of the Working Forests in the Tropics Conference (WFT) is to provide an interdisciplinary and interactive forum for sharing and synthesis of information about tropical forest conservation and management. This conference will explore how scientists from universities and research organizations have worked in partnership with government agencies, policy-makers, the private sector, social movements, and natural resource managers to advance conservation and development through applied research and capacity-building. The conference will also offer networking opportunities for participants.

  – For more information

Progress and Prospects on Water: For a Clean and Healthy World
Location: World Water Week, Stockholm | Dates: August 17-23rd, 2008

The World Water Week in Stockholm is the leading annual global meeting place for capacity-building, partnership-building and follow-up on the implementation of international processes and programs in water and development. The theme of the week is Progress and Prospects on Water: For a Clean and Healthy World with Special Focus on Sanitation.

  – For more information and to register

Stockholm water prizes
Deadline: September 30th, 2008

The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) administers various prizes including the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize. First presented in 1991, The Stockholm Water Prize is the world’s most prestigious prize for outstanding achievement in water-related activities. The annual prize, which includes a USD 150,000 award and a crystal sculpture, honors individuals, institutions or organizations whose work contributes broadly to the conservation and protection of water resources and to improved health of the planet’s inhabitants and ecosystems. Any activity or actor which contributes broadly to the availability, conservation and protection of the world’s water resources, and to improved water conditions which contribute to the health of the planet’s inhabitants and ecosystems, is eligible to be nominated. The activities can be within the fields of education and awareness-raising, human and international relations, research, water management or water-related aid and development activities in developing countries. The span of disciplines and activities for which nominations may be made is very wide. The work of nominees should have potential or proven impact in water-related conditions. Awareness building, education, engineering, management and science are examples of sectors in which a nominee may be active.

  – For more details regarding the nomination process

New Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research starting in January 2009

The Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research will be publishing original policy-oriented papers addressing a broad range of natural resource fields including water, minerals, energy, fisheries, and forestry in a synthesizing fashion, rather than as stand-alone specialty areas. The journal will also publish papers on the natural resource implications of climate change, natural disasters, and biodiversity loss, among others. The papers, ideally, will be based on both conceptual and empirical studies and will be primarily policy-focused. The journal will be largely social-sciences-focused including such fields as economics, sociology, geography, political science, anthropology, public administration, ethics and other disciplines relevant to the crafting of efficient, equitable and sustainable natural resources policies.

  –- For further information including the full Editorial Board and Instructions for Authors please visit the journal's homepage

Call for contributions on the Living Planet Index
Organization: Tour du Valat | Deadline: indeterminate

Tour du Valat is currently working o¬n the development of the Living Planet Index (LPI) for Mediterranean wetlands, as part of the Observatory of Mediterranean wetlands. The LPI, developed by WWF, is based o¬n the evolution and trends of vertebrate species populations. They are currently collecting time series of data for different species populations at different scales (site, region, country) as well as identifying organizations (government agencies, universities, NGO, protected areas managers, etc.) and experts/scientists from Mediterranean countries who hold time data series o¬n animal populations related to wetlands, and searching for publications or reports where these types of data have been published. Ideally the best would be to obtain data at site level, but also regional/national data series will be very useful. If you or your organization holds this type of data and wishes to contribute to this study and/or if you know of any other organization or expert which has this data, please contact Pere Tomas Vive or Thomas Galewski.

  – If interested, contact Pere Tomas Vive or Thomas Galewski.
  – For more info on the Living Planet Index.

What are the Top 10 most pressing issues in forestry and woodland policy and research?
Organization: T10Q research project, Oxford | Deadline: indeterminate

The T10Q project led by a research group based in the University of Oxford is looking at ways to build links between practice, science and policy in forestry. To do so, they want to engage with people who are thinking about forestry and woodland policy and research, and who have an interest in the challenges of woodland management. The research group is looking to hear your views about what you feel are the most pressing issues we face (in terms of forest and woodland ecosystems), and, consequently, where scientists and policy makers should be focusing their efforts and resources. Questions include: What are the top 10 most pressing questions for forestry? Is current research focused on the important policy issues? Does the public at large share the views of researchers and policy-makers on the most pressing issues? Can we harness the interactive power of the Internet as a neutral platform for such discussion?

  – Contribute by joining T10Q national online survey

Project on mangroves as carbon sinks in Nigeria is looking for research partnerships
Organization: Nigerian Conservation Foundation | Deadline: indeterminate

As part of global mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of climate change, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) is current developing carbon studies on trade and sequestration in Nigeria. The pilot study is located in one of NCF’s project sites, Lekki Conservation Centre in the state of Lagos. The goal of the study is to develop science-based carbon sequestration and trade research that will culminate in modeling the viability and valuation of tropical mangrove forests as a carbon sink; developing adaptive methodologies for carbon studies in West Africa; and creating a database that will serve as resource for policy advocacy and climate change research in Sub-Sahara Africa. NCF seeks partnership with research institutions with cognate experience in carbon studies. There will also be room for postgraduate research on climate change.

  – Interested institutions should please contact Alade Adeleke, Technical Programmes Director

Short survey for GEF Evaluation Office

The GEF Evaluation Office would like to ask for your assistance in identifying ways to improve GEF operations and procedures. We invite you to participate in a short survey to provide feedback on your experience with the GEF’s Resource Allocation Framework (RAF). In response to a request from the GEF Council, the GEF Evaluation Office is undertaking a Mid-Term Review of the RAF. The aim of this exercise is to evaluate the degree to which GEF resources under the RAF have been allocated to countries in a transparent and cost effective manner, based on global environmental benefits and country performance. Results of this survey will form part of the overall Review, which uses a wide variety of information sources. Findings of the Review will be presented to the GEF Council in November 2008 and published by the GEF Evaluation Office. The survey should take between 5 and 15 minutes. All responses will be confidential.

  – To access the survey

Consultancies available related to CDM projects in Latin America
Organization: CAF | Deadline: July 15th, 2008

CAF (Corporación Andina de Fomento) is a multilateral financial institution that mobilizes resources from international markets to Latin America in order to provide multiple banking services to both public and private clients of its shareholder countries in the region. The PLAC (Programa Latinoamericano del Carbono, Energías Limpias y Alternativas) is developing a growing pipeline of CDM projects. They are currently searching for consultants to assist in the development of PIN´s, PDD´s, Monitoring Reports, and Deviation Request’s related with CDM Projects. In that sense, they are looking for companies dedicated exclusively to the consultancy work with solid experience and expertise in developing CDM project cycle documents. The projects to be more closely developed to our clients will be related with the application of approved Methodologies, so specific previous experience related to UNFCCC registered projects will be an asset. Additionally, they are also searching for a consultant who could help us in the development of a new methodology to be applied over the electric sector for binational interconnection and new transmission lines. Please e-mail your Company Brochure, including a detailed list of previous experience specifically related to the above-described tasks.

  – Please contact Camilo Rojas for more details

Call for papers- International Conference on Natural Resource Management, Climate Change and Economic Development in Africa: Issues, Opportunities and Challenges
Organization AERC | Deadline: August 15th, 2008 | Location: Nairobi, Kenya | Dates: September 15-18th, 2008

The African Economic Research Consortium is hereby calling for papers for presentation at an international conference on Natural Resource Management, Climate Change and Economic Development in Africa. Papers are particularly solicited from AERC network members, but anyone with relevant experience and credentials in the topic area is invited to submit their work. Qualified women are urged to send papers, and research teams are encouraged.

  – For more information regarding thematic areas and procedures

Think tank initiative, first Call for Expressions of Interest: East and West Africa
Organization: International Development Research Centre | Deadline: August 19th, 2008

The Think Tank Initiative is a new, multi-donor program dedicated to strengthening independent policy research institutions – or “think tanks” – in developing countries, enabling them to better provide sound research that both informs and influences policy. The Initiative will focus its activities in East and West Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. The Think Tank Initiative invites applications from independent African organizations that are committed to using research to inform and influence social and economic policy. The Initiative will provide multi-year funding to promising think tanks, and will work with successful applicants to improve their organizational performance.

  – For more details on the Initiative and the application process

L’initiative think tank lance un premier appel a manifestation d’intérêt: Afrique de l’Ouest et de l’Est
Organization: Centre de Recherche et de Development International | Date limite: le 19 Aout 2008

L’Initiative Think tank, financée par plusieurs bailleurs de fonds, a pour but de renforcer des institutions indépendantes de recherche sur les politiques – groupes de réflexion ou « think tanks » – dans les pays en développement afin de leur permettre de réaliser des recherches rigoureuses susceptibles d’inspirer des politiques publiques et d’exercer une influence sur leur conception. L’initiative ciblera les institutions d’Afrique de l’Est et de l’Ouest, d’Asie du Sud et d’Amérique Latine. L’Initiative Think tank invite les institutions de recherche africaines indépendantes vouées à influencer le débat public et la définition des politiques économiques et sociales à faire part de leur intérêt à l'égard du programme. L’initiative offrira un appui financier et technique de longue durée visant le renforcement des capacités institutionnelles des Think tanks retenus.

  – - Pour plus de détails sur le programme et le processus de sélection, visitez le site.

Award compensates social entrepreneurship
Organization: Skoll Foundation | Deadline: August 5th and November 4th, 2008

The Skoll Foundation is accepting applications for the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship, a flagship program that invests in leading social entrepreneurs worldwide. The Foundation seeks social entrepreneurs whose work has the potential for large-scale positive change in the areas of tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, peace and security, institutional responsibility, and economic and social equity. Particular areas of interest are in applications from social entrepreneurs working in five critical sub-issue areas that threaten the survival of humanity – climate change, nuclear proliferation, global pandemics, conflict in the Middle East and water scarcity. While applications are accepted at any time, there are three deadlines centered around Skoll’s three board meetings to assist in managing the internal review process. Awardees are selected at each board meeting, with funds typically disbursed 4-6 weeks after selection. 8-10 awards are normally granted within a twelve month cycle. There is no competitive advantage in applying by a specific deadline. Awardees are celebrated at the annual Skoll World Forum following their selection, held during the last week of March in Oxford, England.

  – For further information on our guidelines and application process.

Vacancies for the Pacific Regional Project Coordination Unit of the Sustainable Integrated Water Resources and Wastewater Management (IWRM) Project
Location: Suva, Fiji Islands | Deadline: July 25th, 2008

The Pacific IWRM Project will start in 2008 and will run for five years. The Project will help fourteen Pacific Island Countries address problems of pollution entering ground and surface water, as well as support improved management of clean water for drinking and sanitation. Applications are invited for four positions within the Regional Project Coordination Unit (PCU). The regional PCU will be based within the Community Lifelines Program of the Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), located in Suva, Fiji Islands. The PCU will provide a technical support, coordination, supervision, and management function for the implementation of the Pacific IWRM Project and will operate in accordance with the rules and procedures of Implementing Agencies UNDP/UNEP, Executing Agency SOPAC, and the GEF.

  – For further information.

Internship in Water Monitoring Alliance
Location: Marseilles, France | Deadline: April 25, 2008

The World Water Council currently offers an internship to support the coordinator of one of its programs, the Water Monitoring Alliance, in researching, analyzing and developing monitoring activities. The successful applicant should be a current student in the field of environmental sciences with a specialization on water and an interest in international and development questions. The internship will take place at the WWC headquarters in Marseilles.

  – Read the full offer.

Lecturer on Climate Science, Climate Impacts and/or Climate Adaptation
Organization: Climate Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney | Deadline: July 25th, 2008

The Climate Change Research Centre, Faculty of Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia is looking for a lecturer/senior Lecturer for Climate Science, Climate Impacts and/or Climate Adaptation.

  – For more details regarding the posting.

ESRC Funded PhD Studentship in The Governance of Clean Development
Location: School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia | Deadline: August 15th, 2008

The ESRC Climate Change Leadership Fellowship on The Governance of Clean Development will address the role of institutions and policy processes in reconciling the growing levels of demand for energy investment in rapidly industrialising countries with the goal of clean development aimed at facilitating a transition to a lower carbon economy. The programme of work will explore the conditions in which the governance context nationally and internationally helps to determine (i) the nature, scale and direction of investment flows in the clean development sector (within and beyond the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism) and (ii) the extent to which those flows are able to simultaneously satisfy social as well as environmental ends. Applications are invited for a fully funded 3 year PhD studentship based in the School of Development Studies at UEA to be supervised by Prof. Peter Newell to begin in October 2008 (or as soon thereafter as possible). The subject of the research will be a comparative study of the governance of clean development in India and South Africa and will involve field work in both those countries. The studentship will allow significant involvement in the research and communication work associated with the fellowship at one of the UK’s leading centres for research on climate change development. The studentship includes PhD student fees, field work costs and project related travel, a stipend plus a Research Training Support Grant. Applications are welcome from candidates with a minimum 2.1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) and a relevant Masters degree or relevant experience. Please note that due to funding restrictions only EU and UK citizens are eligible. Applications should include a CV, a covering letter outlining relevant experience and interest in this area of work and a completed application form.

  – Application forms available here.

Whiteford graduate student conference travel award in applied anthropology
Organization: Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (SLACA) | Deadline: indeterminate

The Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (SLACA) announces its 2009 Whiteford Graduate Student Award in Applied Anthropology, in honor of Michael B. Whiteford and Scott Whiteford. Papers submitted to the award’s committee are limited to a maximum length of six thousand words, including bibliography, must have an applied component, and be based on field research carried out in Latin America, the Caribbean, or among first-generation migrants from these areas. The papers can be written in English, Spanish, French or Portuguese and must be submitted to be presented at the 2009 SLACA Spring meetings in Santa Fe, New Mexico, March 17-21 by a student member of SLACA.. The prize consists of US $200 for a student registered in a graduate program in the U.S.A. or Canada, and US $300 for a student registered in a graduate program in Latin American or the Caribbean to support mainly travel costs to the SLACA event where Scott Whiteford will present the prize. Additionally, we encourage anthropology departments to support students entering the competition by providing additional conference travel funds. The Whiteford Graduate Student Award in Applied Anthropology in Latin America/Caribbean was created through the enduring support of Michael B. and Scott Whiteford who have donated all of the royalty income from their book Crossing Currents: Continuity and Change in Latin America to the Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology since its publication in 1998. Their contributions have allowed SLACA to support the travel of scholars of Latin America in presenting their work at the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association. We are proud to extend the Whiteford¹s generosity to students¹ emerging scholarship at the annual meetings of the Society for Applied Anthropology.

  – Please address queries and send papers to Walter E. Little

Green Harbor Prize for anthropological fieldwork
Organization: Green Harbor Financial| Deadline: April 30th, 2009

The Green Harbor Prize is a $500 award sponsored by Green Harbor Financial to support anthropological fieldwork on economic activities that are sustainable, eco-friendly, culturally sensitive, committed to community engagement, and/or socially responsible. This is intended as supplemental funding for Ph.D. candidates doing their field research, and will only be awarded to students who are (or will be) in a position to use the funds for fieldwork-related expenses. Only students in graduate programs located in certain US states will be financed. Preference will be given to proposals that explore the actual or theoretical linkages between the proposed anthropological research and the field of socially responsible investing. Such exploration may be provisional. The research does not have to be on or about investment.

  – Fore more information.

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