Payment for Ecosystem Services
A Payment for Ecosystem Services initiative developed in 2008, sponsored by a group of lakeshore flower producers, and involving some 500 farmers living in the upper reaches of the Malewa catchment, along the Wanjohi, Turasha and Kinja streams. The initiative had been coordinated by CARE a lead partner of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and World Food Programme (WFP), and by the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). The objective of the agreement was to reduce sediment and sediment-associated nutrient erosion and transport to the lake, to prevent both sedimentation and eutrophication. As a reward for abstaining from agricultural practices that would otherwise lead to severe soil erosion, each farming family was given the Kenya shillings equivalent of 17 US$ in the form of credit coupons to be spent at a Naivasha farming supplies shop. It should be underlined that despite the relatively modest reward, the scheme was popular among the farmers who showed to be sensitive and responsive when addressed about environmental issues involving soil erosion and water quality.
