From principles to practice in paying for nature’s services

Payments for Environmental Services (PES) constitute an innovative economic intervention to counteract the global loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functions. In theory, some appealing features should enable PES to perform well in achieving conservation and welfare goals. In practice, outcomes depe...

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Main Authors: Wunder, Sven, Brouwer, R., Engel, S., Ezzine-de-Blas, D., Muradian, R., Pascual, U., Pinto, R.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Springer 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/112494
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author Wunder, Sven
Brouwer, R.
Engel, S.
Ezzine-de-Blas, D.
Muradian, R.
Pascual, U.
Pinto, R.
author_browse Brouwer, R.
Engel, S.
Ezzine-de-Blas, D.
Muradian, R.
Pascual, U.
Pinto, R.
Wunder, Sven
author_facet Wunder, Sven
Brouwer, R.
Engel, S.
Ezzine-de-Blas, D.
Muradian, R.
Pascual, U.
Pinto, R.
author_sort Wunder, Sven
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Payments for Environmental Services (PES) constitute an innovative economic intervention to counteract the global loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functions. In theory, some appealing features should enable PES to perform well in achieving conservation and welfare goals. In practice, outcomes depend on the interplay between context, design and implementation. Inspecting a new global dataset, we find that some PES design principles pre-identified in the social-science literature as desirable, such as spatial targeting and payment differentiation, are only partially being applied in practice. More importantly, the PES-defining principle of conditionality—monitoring compliance and sanctioning detected non-compliance—is seldom being implemented. Administrative ease, multiple non-environmental side objectives and social equity concerns may jointly help explain the reluctance to adopt more sophisticated, theoretically informed practices. However, by taking simplifying shortcuts in design and implementation, PES programmes may become less environmentally effective and efficient as economic incentives, thus underperforming their conservation potential. A curated global dataset of Payments for Environmental Services (PES) reveals that theoretical principles are only partially applied in practice, particularly conditionality, which makes payments underperform.
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spelling CGSpace1124942024-11-15T08:52:11Z From principles to practice in paying for nature’s services Wunder, Sven Brouwer, R. Engel, S. Ezzine-de-Blas, D. Muradian, R. Pascual, U. Pinto, R. ecosystem services ecology food science Payments for Environmental Services (PES) constitute an innovative economic intervention to counteract the global loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functions. In theory, some appealing features should enable PES to perform well in achieving conservation and welfare goals. In practice, outcomes depend on the interplay between context, design and implementation. Inspecting a new global dataset, we find that some PES design principles pre-identified in the social-science literature as desirable, such as spatial targeting and payment differentiation, are only partially being applied in practice. More importantly, the PES-defining principle of conditionality—monitoring compliance and sanctioning detected non-compliance—is seldom being implemented. Administrative ease, multiple non-environmental side objectives and social equity concerns may jointly help explain the reluctance to adopt more sophisticated, theoretically informed practices. However, by taking simplifying shortcuts in design and implementation, PES programmes may become less environmentally effective and efficient as economic incentives, thus underperforming their conservation potential. A curated global dataset of Payments for Environmental Services (PES) reveals that theoretical principles are only partially applied in practice, particularly conditionality, which makes payments underperform. 2018-03-12 2021-03-08T08:34:42Z 2021-03-08T08:34:42Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/112494 en Open Access Springer Wunder, S., Brouwer, R., Engel, S., Ezzine-de-Blas, D., Muradian, R., Pascual, U., Pinto, R. 2018. From principles to practice in paying for nature’s services. Nature Sustainability, 1: 145-150. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0036-x
spellingShingle ecosystem services
ecology
food science
Wunder, Sven
Brouwer, R.
Engel, S.
Ezzine-de-Blas, D.
Muradian, R.
Pascual, U.
Pinto, R.
From principles to practice in paying for nature’s services
title From principles to practice in paying for nature’s services
title_full From principles to practice in paying for nature’s services
title_fullStr From principles to practice in paying for nature’s services
title_full_unstemmed From principles to practice in paying for nature’s services
title_short From principles to practice in paying for nature’s services
title_sort from principles to practice in paying for nature s services
topic ecosystem services
ecology
food science
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/112494
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