RUPES - About

RUPES Program
Rewarding the Upland Poor in Asia for Environmental Services They Provide (RUPES)

Background

Among the vast multitude of the poor in Asia, the populations that are most marginalized are those living in the hilly and mountainous areas. The benefits of national and local investments in economic development often bypass these upland communities and in many cases they are bearing a large share of the negative aspects of development.

It is increasingly evident that the real plight of mountain and upland poor communities has been overlooked. There is an urgent need to support a process of self-empowerment so that poor upland people can take the necessary decisions to build a sustainable future based on their resources, on improved technology and centuries of accumulated wisdom.

We now know that many upland and mountain communities in Asia manage landscapes that provide environmental services to outside beneficiaries. The services they provide include clean and abundant water supplies from watersheds, biodiversity protection, stocks of carbon that may alleviate global warming and landscape beauty for recreation and tourism. However upland communities are not sharing in the benefits that these services provide. Rewarding the poor upland communities for providing environmental services would enhance their livelihoods and reduce poverty.

A program for developing mechanisms for rewarding the upland poor in Asia for the environmental services they provide (RUPES) .

Through partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) as a major donor, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) has taken on the role of coordinating a consortium of partners interested in contributing and being a part of RUPES.

These include such organizations as the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), World Resources Institute (WRI), World Conservation Union (IUCN), Winrock International, Conservation International (CI), the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA) of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ford Foundation, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), national partners from the countries in Asia where RUPES is conducting action research, and other international and national investors in poverty alleviation and natural resource management.