IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Hallstr”m, E. | |
| Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) and Water Resource Management of the tropical mountain ecosystem P ramo: A case study in the northern parts of Ecuador | |
| 2017 Full Book | |
Latin America has pioneered the concept of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) as a strategy to improve the management of ecosystem services. Ecuador is not an exception, where many PES schemes have been implemented to protect the tropical mountain ecosystem "p ramo" and the water resources these areas are generating for downstream societies. A successful PES scheme needs to achieve both targeted bio-physical objectives and at the same time benefit local conditions while not risking to sacrifice the local demand for ecosystem services. This balance is explored here in a case study focusing on the R¡o Grande watershed in the highlands in the northern parts of Ecuador by exemplifying community participation in the public PES scheme Socio Bosque (PSB) starting in 2009. The water resource distribution (precipitation, discharge, actual evapotranspiration and potential evapotranspiration) in the watershed was evaluated over the last decades. The local perception of the PSB and its impacts on local and regional water resources were also studied and characterized. The results showed that the annual discharge in the R¡o Grande watershed has decreased significantly from 1967-2014 and that the annual discharge was significantly lower between 1997-2015 compared to 1979-1997. Since precipitation did not decrease significantly during this period, the changes of the annual discharge are more likely depended on factors controlling the seasonal distribution of discharge and evapotranspiration in the watershed. For example, large scale land use changes coupled with a significantly warmer climate in the region could be a possible driver. Of course, this would not exclude other important factors such as changes in water demand and the supply of freshwater from the R¡o Grande watershed to downstream societies. The results of this case study showed that it is likely too early to see any impacts in the water balance components as a direct response to the implemented PSB scheme. Clearly, this motivates a need for continued evaluation of the local perception and the water resources to ensure that the need and demand for ecosystem services in a long-term perspective are maintained. |
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