A non-financial incentive can be considered as a reward in the PES scheme. Here is a microhydro powerplant awarded by the electricity company to the local farmers for their effort to reduce sedimentation in Sumberjaya watershed
Some 10 years ago, scientists from the World Agroforestry Centre began working with a hydropower company in Lampung Province, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The State Electricity Company known by its Indonesian acronym PLN was spending around US$1 million a year dredging sediment out of a dam that supplied water for one of its hydropower plants. The company wanted to reduce the cost of keeping its turbines unclogged.
To achieve this, the team working on the Rewards for, Use of, and Shared Investment in Pro-poor Environmental Services (RUPES) project set up a pilot project with the local farming community. Working in partnership with PLN and the farmers, the RUPES team developed a scheme of payments for reducing sediment. The River Care Programme, as it became known, encouraged farmers to construct small dams and build drainage ditches along pathways and terraces to reduce water run-off and erosion. The scheme has been such a success that PLN is now replicating the River Care programme at all its hydroelectric sites throughout Sumatra.
“We are very pleased with this outcome,” says Beria Leimona, a leading ecosystem services researcher with the World Agroforestry Centre’s Southeast Asia programme. “We expect a lot of benefits to accrue to all involved, including a big win for the environment.” The principle underlying the contract between hydropower companies and local communities is conditionality, which means that the River Care group receives payments in return for reducing the sediment load in the river. In the case of the pilot project at Buluh Kapur village, the target was a reduction of 30% of the sediment load, with a reward of US$1000. However, lesser achievements were also recognized: US$700 for 20–30% reduction; US$500 for 10–20% reduction; $250 for less than 10% reduction.
By the time the project came to an end at Buluh Kapur, the community had demonstrated a high level of commitment. Although they failed to reach the 30% target, they did reduce sediment load by 20%. PLN subsequently signed new River Care contracts with other villages in the area.
“It’s true that it has taken rather longer than we hoped, but we are pleased with the result,” says Meine van Noordwijk, the World Agroforestry Centre’s chief science adviser. “Our experience in Sumatra shows that you need to be persistent, and keep working at projects to make sure they achieve their objectives.”
The 10-year RUPES research-for-development project was supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the CGIAR Research Programme on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.
