Upper-Trusha farmer livelihood study, Naivasha, Kenya

In the Lake Naivasha basin, Kenya, there is an example of long running Payment for Environmental Services (PES) project, which received some private sector funding sporadically during the past ten years. The project had both environmental and socio-economical aims: to lessen soil erosion and sediment/fertilizer loads to Lake Naivasha, meanwhile educating the land user, i.e. farmers, to gain higher yields by more sustainable farming methods. The more sustainable farming methods were thought to have the potential to produce livelihood improvement to the poorest farmers. According to farmer testimonies, the land erosion has reduced and the farmer livelihoods through better income had also improved significantly. Both of these positive outcomes are primarily from training that is included as an essential part of the PES project. Although the socio-economic outcomes are very positive, there seems to be a lack of evidence for the environmental outcomes of the PES project. In addition, even though there is some little inputs to the PES project from flower farms downstream, i.e. the private sector, currently the most important contributions to this project come from an international NGO, the WWF.