Watershed Management Division, Department of Forests and Parks Services, MoAF in collaboration with WWF Bhutan Office is organizing a symposium on Natural Capital and Payment for Environmental Services (PES). The theme of the symposium is: “Integrating ecosystem services for decisions making”. The symposium will take place from 25-27 May 2017 and it is being organized at Hotel Zhiwaling, Paro. Hon’ble Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Forest, graced the opening ceremony of the symposium.

The symposium has two main objectives:
1) To provide a platform to share experiences and knowledge on the valuation of Natural Capital tools, and to understand how these approaches are incorporated into decision making in the region and across the globe.
2) To understand the initiatives that are undertaken in Bhutan and across the globe on natural capital to guide the work on valuation of ecosystem services, which is being carried out, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests.

The symposium will provide opportunity to bring key stakeholders and decision makers to develop a better understanding and integration of natural capital tools and approaches into the development planning and policy. The participants and experts gathered in the symposium include local, regional and international experts from Governments, Academic Institutions, and NGOs. At the end of the symposium, we expect to achieve the following:

 Share knowledge and experiences on the use of natural capital tools and approaches for valuation of ecosystem services to support decisions making – case studies from the region and globally.
 Share key lessons learnt and challenges and opportunities of integrating ecosystem services valuation into decisions making and the way forward.
 Build regional collaboration and partnerships on natural capital related approaches/programme/projects – both current and future.
 Review international and regional experiences on application of PES schemes, in particular on valuation methodologies, sustainable financing and potential for scaling up and mainstreaming to inform the valuation of ecosystem services in Bhutan.
 Present PES experience in Bhutan with incorporation of global lessons and finalize the synthesize report. WWF and FCPF World Bank fund the symposium.

Contributed by WMD