Sub-Regional Knowledge Exchange and Capacity-Building Workshop on the Economic Valuation of Land and Ecosystem…

Capturing the True Value of Land: Kigali to host international workshop on natural capital valuation

Kigali, Rwanda, 7 December 2012 – The OSLO Consortium, the Global Mechanism, UNECA and the Land Policy Initiative, with support from the UNCCD, the Economics of Land Degradation, the Government of Norway, the European Economic Commission, and CABI present a Sub-regional Capacity Building Workshop on Natural Capital Valuation of Land and Ecosystem Services for Eastern Africa.

 International experts from over 20 different countries will gather in Kigali for a four-day workshop on natural capital valuation of land. The aim of the workshop will be to provide participants (primarily land valuers from Eastern Africa) with the tools and methodologies to use land and ecosystem valuation to mobilize financial resources for sustainable land use.

 More specifically, the workshop will:

• Provide a forum for sharing knowledge and evidence-based lessons and experiences, as well as for building networks of expertise;
• Be instrumental to the identification of adequate land policy reforms and/or the design of accompanying policy measures, such as incentives and market based mechanisms (IMBMs), risk management/mitigation tools and other enabling conditions to encourage private investment and business assurance;
• Strengthen the synergies and linkages in Eastern Africa on trans-boundary issues related to land management;
• Be a basis for formulating a framework for building consensus and outlining future action by the various stakeholders, practitioners and development partners.

WHEN: 10-13, December 2012

WHERE: Lemigo Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda

WHO: Simone Quatrini, Ecological Economist, The Global Mechanism/John Soussan, Scientific Coordinator, OSLO Consortium

Joan Kagwanja, Chief, Land Policy Initiative (UNECA)

With representatives from The World Bank; The ELD Initiative; UNEP; UNDP; The United Nations University; The Basque Center for Climate Change; The Wildlife Conservation Society; The University of Zurich, Kilimo Salama, Rwanda, Kenya, Madagascar, Zambia, Tanzania and more.

Please contact Christina Wollesen c.wollesen [at] global-mechanism.org (c[dot]wollesen[at]global-mechanism[dot]org) to request more information about the event, or a copy of the official concept note.

The OSLO Consortium is a global partnership of leading research and academic institutions, international organizations and UN agencies engaged in the economic assessment of the total value of land and ecosystem services, and in the development of innovative solutions for sustainable land use. Its members are international experts in the fields of ecological economics, environmental science, development policy, and sustainable development.