Payments for ecosystem services

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Payments for ecosystem services (PES) operate on the principle that market-based mechanisms are optimal tools for addressing environmental concerns while promoting policies that are pro-poor and help communities in developing countries secure their livelihoods. PES are designed to incentivize communities, individuals, and companies to act in environmentally sound ways by offering compensation in exchange for managing natural resources sustainably. However, there are considerable risks in putting a price a nature through PES, ranging from land-tenure concerns and green-grabbing, to unintended effects on biodiversity, which may paradoxically result in the impoverishment of local communities. Do the risks of PES outweigh the potential benefits?

Keynote Gert Van Hecken is a lecturer in International Cooperation and Development at the Institute of Development Policy (IOB), University of Antwerp. His research focuses on the socio-political dynamics triggered by (international) conditional climate change/development finance instruments, such as carbon and biodiversity markets and Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). He holds a PhD in Development Studies (University of Antwerp), a Master in Environmental Sciences (University of Antwerp) and a Master in Business Engineering (University of Antwerp). More about Gert Van Hecken. 

Discussant Kahlil Baker is the Executive Director and Co-founder of Taking Root, and has over 12 years of experience working with farming communities and reforestation projects in Central America. Kahlil has been developing innovative approaches to making community forestry an economically viable land use option for subsistence farmers. With Taking Root, his primary responsibility is to oversee all aspects of forest operations, complying with international forest carbon standards, developing forest inventory and carbon accounting methodologies, and supervising the operational team. Prior to Taking Root, Kahlil spent many years working in the Canadian silviculture industry. He holds a Master’s degree in forest biometrics from the University of British-Columbia and a degree in economics from Concordia University. More about Kahlil Baker.

Moderator Johan Bastiaensen is professor at the Institute of Development Policy and Management (IOB), University of Antwerp. In addition, since 1988 he has been the coordinator of the long-term academic partnership with the research and development institute Nitlapan of the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua, Nicaragua. His research interests microfinance for rural development, related to his involvement in the creation and the development of the Fondo de Desarrollo Local (FDL) from within Nitlapan (now the largest and most rural microfinance institution in Nicaragua). He also conducts research about access to land and natural resources, adopting an institutional approach which integrates ideas from the legal pluralism paradigm. More about Johan Bastiaensen.

Tuesday 12 December​ 2017
From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
University of Antwerp - City Campus  
Rodestraat 14 - R.014 - 2000 Antwerpen (how to reach the city campus?)

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