The Dynamics of Implementing Payment for Ecosystem Services Scheme in Lake Naivasha Basin Ecosystem, Kenya

Lake Naivasha Basin is located in Nakuru and Nyandarua counties in the Republic of Kenya. It is an important ecosystem to the economy of Kenya, consistently contributing upwards of 1% of the national Gross Domestic Production. However, this landscape is continuously and rapidly degrading due to intensive land use practices and land fragmentation in spite of the existence of various natural resource management policies in Kenya. The promotion of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) as a policy option to foster ecosystems sustainability by increasing the capacity of government authorities and local communities in Kenya to conserve riparian and forest ecosystems so as to reduce the vulnerability of dependent communities and production enterprises to the observed and anticipated effects of climate change is implied in the key environmental and natural resources policies in Kenya. We examine whether the Lake Naivasha Basin Payment for Ecosystem Services (LNB-PES) scheme embodied the critical characteristics of an effective PES mechanism and if it achieved the desired ecological and livelihood results. A total of 1,191 heads of households and 11 key informants were interviewed for this study. The study results indicate that the LNB-PES scheme had some functional and conceptual inadequacies although it achieved remarkable adoption and compliance by participating farmers. Based on these results, we recommend that a new PES scheme with a conditionalities enforcement mechanism be initiated for the LNB with a view to informing the mainstreaming of the concept of enforceable PES in the existing policy framework, the development of a national or basin-level PES policy, and, support watershed restoration and climate change adaptation through the provision of forest technical extension services to land owners for the creation of woodlots and other watershed protection initiatives at farm level.