Non-technical summaryA major challenge in addressing the loss of benefits and services provided by the natural environment is that it can be difficult to find ways for those who benefit from them to pay for their preservation. We examine one such context in Malawi, where erosion from soils disturbed by agriculture affects not only farmers’ incomes, but also damages aquatic habitat and inhibits the storage and hydropower potential of dams downstream. We demonstrate that payments from hydropower producers to farmers to maintain land cover and prevent erosion can have benefits for all parties involved.

Lake Champlain is a treasured resource for recreation, tourism, and drinking water situated in New York, Vermont (U.S.), and Québec (Canada). Because its shores span two states and two countries, management strategies for the lake require strong cross-boundary partnerships and cooperation. In recent decades, increased prevalence of harmful cyanobacteria blooms has impacted public health and recreation. A lake-wide cyanobacteria monitoring program was established in 2001 with an emphasis on water sample collection and analysis to inform management strategies. In 2012, this program transitioned from laboratorybased analyses at a limited number of locations to a visual assessment protocol validated by water samples. This transition opened the door to more effective and widespread monitoring, communication, and inclusion of a greater number of monitoring locations and stakeholders. Today, through a unique partnership of community scientist volunteers, public beach managers, nonprofit organizations, and state and federal agencies, a comprehensive network of trained cyanobacteria monitors generates timely data on water quality conditions to relay critical public health information. The majority of these reports are provided by trained community scientist volunteers, strengthening the geographic coverage of the program and the environmental literacy of lake users. This program now trains hundreds of community scientists, documents thousands of water quality condition reports annually, and communicates cyanobacteria conditions to the public via an online Cyanobacteria Tracker map. In this article, we describe the evolution of this successful program, discuss key findings from analysis of these volunteer-collected data, and suggest how similar programs could be effectively developed in other regions.

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