From Principles to Numbers: Approaches in Implementing Payments for Environmental Services (PES) in the Philippines - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 369

Based on the assessment, the environmental conditions in Bakun Watershed
reveal that land use and ground-cover changes seems to be the most significant
change alterations that have taken place in the watershed, and could explain the
variations in the streamflow pattern (Cruz et al. 2005). Results of simulation runs
using the GenRiver model suggest that less forest cover is more beneficial than
greater cover when the ultimate goal is to induce more streamflow during the dry
season (Fig. 17.1). This pattern of hydrologic behavior could be related to the ten-
dency of forests to increase the use of water through higher evapotranspiration,
resulting in lower net rainwater available for streamflow. Despite the inability to
validate the outputs of GenRiver due to the absence of reliable streamflow records,
the estimates generated in this study seem reasonable and consistent with current
scientific knowledge as well as local and public ecological knowledge.
Presently, the Rewarding Upland People for Environmental Services (RUPES) -
Bakun and the Bakun Indigenous Tribes Organization (BITO) are working together to
develop effective, fair and transparent environmental transfer mechanisms that will
enhance livelihoods and reduce poverty among the Bakun people and to provide a
model of intervention that will fully exercise their rights. A comprehensive watershed
development and management plan is currently in progress.

17.2.2.2 Case 2: Kalahan Carbon Sequestration Project

ICRAF with support from IFAD is supporting the Kalahan Educational Foundation
Inc. (KEF), a group of indigenous people in the Philippines, to market the environ-
mental services they provide.
The carbon sequestration project will be implemented over a 900-ha portion of
the Ikalahan Ancestral Domain located in the provinces of Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija
and Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines. The Domain covers 58,000 ha of mountainous
forest and farmlands from 50 to 1,717 m above sea level. The main strategy of the
project will be community-based forest management while the key stakeholders of

Fig. 17.1 Dry season total flow of Bakun river watershed under five scenarios of various forest
cover simulated for 20 years using the GenRiver model (Cruz et al. 2005)