Forest protection as part of watershed management is often (still) considered to provide downstream benefits that may well exceed the local benefits. Especially where hydro-electricity schemes derive substantial economic benefits from the continued flow of water, the concept of payments for watershed protection services has become popular. However, as other articles in this newsletter highlight, there is no shared opinion between scientists, farmers and policy makers about what these services are, how they depend on the condition of the landscape (and the amount of forest that is part of it) and how payments or rewards can be made transparent (linking reward to delivery) and robust (surviving paradigm shifts) 1 . To bridge the ‘perception’ and ‘communication’ gaps that are likely to exist in the way the local ‘forest and water’ debate has developed, a form of ‘rapid appraisal’ is needed to judge how far apart the potential partners in a rewards mechanism are, and to help develop a mechanism that is transparent and robust
Publication year
2006
Authors
Language
English
Keywords
hydrology, lakes
Geographic
Indonesia
