The Katoomba Group Legal Initiative
Addressing legal frameworks and private contracting in payments for ecosystem services

Analysis and engagement with partners working on ecosystem services transactions, policies and laws over the past decade have demonstrated a clear need to better understand the gaps and limitations related to complex legal considerations which affect ecosystem services project participants and the public sector. Working in this space, the Katoomba Group Legal Initiative:

1. Examines existing law and policy frameworks around PES;
2. Informs the development of equitable PES laws and policies; and
3. Collects and disseminates tools and resources related to PES law and policy to individuals, lawyers, and project developers.

IUCN-Katoomba Group Analysis of Legal and Institutional Frameworks

Since January 2008, the Tropical America Katoomba Group and the IUCN Environmental Law Centre have worked together to analyze legal and institutional frameworks around water- and carbon-based payments for ecosystem services. This work includes in-depth regulatory and institutional assessments of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, conducted by country-based analysts with substantial PES experience. Key topics include: legal and institutional frameworks related to PES; property rights; contracts; securities and risk allocation; negotiation processes; monitoring, non-compliance, and enforcement; dispute resolution; and public participation.

• NOW AVAILABLE! Payments for Ecosystem Services: Legal and Institutional Frameworks (PDF download), a report developed by IUCN and the Katoomba Group that examines the legal and institutional frameworks for water-related PES in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru.
• For information and presentations from the August 2008 workshop that presented preliminary findings of the joint IUCN-Katoomba Group initiative, please see the Katoomba events page.
• Download the guiding questionnaire for country assessments, a framework that can be used to examine some of the issues that arise in this area or to inform future legal and institutional country assessments.

Katoomba Group Legal Initiative-CARE Online PES Contract Toolkit

Contracting for ecosystem services is a relatively new phenomenon, and a process that can be confusing, opaque, and filled with hidden costs. In order to help level the playing field between market participants, the Legal Initiative provides resources and tools tailored toward small-scale ecosystem services providers and natural resource-dependent communities.

The Katoomba Group Legal Initiative and CARE have worked together to create an online PES Contract Toolkit, for use by project developers, communities, individuals, and lawyers to simplify and de-mystify the process of contracting for ecosystem services. The toolkit currently contains template contracts, contract-drafting guidance under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, and links to publications related to PES contract-drafting. New tools and resources for the toolkit, including REDD-specific contract-drafting guidance, are continuously developed.

Please contact Slayde Hawkins (shawkins at forest-trends.org) with questions or feedback about the Katoomba Group Legal Initiative.