As the member of the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) for the FAO Project for Ecosystem Services in Agriculture (IES), Jeannette Gurung,attended thea meeting where the FAO project team members, donor representatives and 11 other PAC members from governments, international organizations and NGOs and the private sector discussed key obstacles and opportunities for incentivizing PES by agriculture (incl. forestry) and how policies and institutions could overcome obstacles and support opportunities. They also discussed roles of different stakeholders. There was widespread agreement that existing systems focus on mostly on technical aspects of environmental services, and that much more needs to be done to focus on and measure social impacts. The meeting was held on 9-10 June in Rome, Italy.
The main objective of the meeting were
- to collect different ideas and experiences regardingpolicies that enable establishment of robust and financially sustainable agreements for PES
- identify key policies
- discuss stakeholder expectations and contributions
- to define main elements of strategy and workplan fordialogue on policy issues to be led by FAO