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Designing community-based payment scheme for ecosystem services: a case from Koshi Hills, Nepal

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Abstract

The study was carried out to design payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme to enhance the effectiveness of existing drinking water supply project. This study determined willingness-to-pay of water users using choice experiment method and identify the willingness of watershed households to participate in the scheme by household survey. The results suggest that creating a multi-stakeholder institution at the local level, led by local body, will make the implementation of the PES feasible. This would create trust between ecosystem managers and service consumers, facilitates monitoring system and encourages their participation in watershed management. In the beginning, water users would like to pay less than their willingness-to-pay because it may take time to improve the situation. This suggests that community-based payment for ecosystem services scheme in rural area can be kicked off, only after the external support this is because the amount committed by water users are not sufficient to implement all required activities and ecosystem managers will not make an investment expecting that they will be paid in the future. The study also recommends providing upstream communities in-kind support rather than cash may reduce the transportation cost as well as risk of corruption. This also ensures that the fund is spent on planned activities.

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Notes

  1. Plantation in 4 ha area NPR 2.4 million, bioengineering (100 ropani) NPR 1.2 million, Training (farming) 0.7 million, Seed NPR 0.1 million, irrigation facility 0.8 million, training (income generation) NPR 0.7 million and rest is conservation pond. These estimations are based on the Norms of the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, Nepal (MoFSC 2014).

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Acknowledgements

This study is jointly undertaken by International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)/Koshi Basin Programme (KBP) and Green Governance Nepal (GGN). KBP is supported by the Australian Government through the Sustainable Development Investment Portfolio for South Asia, as well as core funds of ICIMOD contributed by the governments of Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Norway, Pakistan, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The views and interpretation in this publication are those of the authors and should not be ascribed to GGN, ICIMOD or their donors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal

    Laxmi Dutt Bhatta & Shahriar Wahid

  2. WWF Nepal, Baluwatar, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Arati Khadgi

  3. Department for Management of Science and Technology Development, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Rajesh Kumar Rai

  4. Faculty of Environment and Labour Safety, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Rajesh Kumar Rai

  5. Green Governance Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Bikram Tamang & Kiran Timalsina

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  1. Laxmi Dutt Bhatta
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  2. Arati Khadgi
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  3. Rajesh Kumar Rai
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  4. Bikram Tamang
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  5. Kiran Timalsina
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  6. Shahriar Wahid
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Correspondence to Rajesh Kumar Rai.

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Bhatta, L.D., Khadgi, A., Rai, R.K. et al. Designing community-based payment scheme for ecosystem services: a case from Koshi Hills, Nepal. Environ Dev Sustain 20, 1831–1848 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-017-9969-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-017-9969-x

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