Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolts

Payments for environmental services (PES) are part of a new and more direct conservation paradigm, explicitly recognizing the need to bridge the interests of landowners and outsiders. Eloquent theoretical assessments have praised the absolute advantages of PES over traditional conservation approache...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wunder, Sven
Format: Libro
Language:Inglés
Published: 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/19193
_version_ 1855541247374000128
author Wunder, Sven
author_browse Wunder, Sven
author_facet Wunder, Sven
author_sort Wunder, Sven
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Payments for environmental services (PES) are part of a new and more direct conservation paradigm, explicitly recognizing the need to bridge the interests of landowners and outsiders. Eloquent theoretical assessments have praised the absolute advantages of PES over traditional conservation approaches. Some pilot PES exist in the tropics, but many field practitioners and prospective service buyers and sellers remain skeptical about the concept. This paper aims to help demystify PES for non-economists, starting with a simple and coherent definition of the term. It then provides practical ‘how-to’ hints for PES design. It considers the likely niche for PES in the portfolio of conservation approaches. This assessment is based on a literature review, combined with field observations from research in Latin America and Asia. It concludes that service users will continue to drive PES, but their willingness to pay will only rise if schemes can demonstrate clear additionality vis-à-vis carefully established baselines, if trust-building processes with service providers are sustained, and PES recipients’ livelihood dynamics is better understood. PES best suits intermediate and/or projected threat scenarios, often in marginal lands with moderate conservation opportunity costs. People facing credible but medium-sized environmental degradation are more likely to become PES recipients than those living in relative harmony with Nature. The choice between PES cash and in-kind payments is highly context-dependent. Poor PES recipients are likely to gain from participation, though their access might be constrained and non-participating landless poor could lose out. PES is a highly promising conservation approach that can benefit buyers, sellers and improve the resource base, but it is unlikely to completely outstrip other conservation instruments.
format Libro
id CGSpace19193
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2005
publishDateRange 2005
publishDateSort 2005
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace191932025-01-24T14:20:55Z Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolts Wunder, Sven services livelihoods rural communities conservation incentives economics Payments for environmental services (PES) are part of a new and more direct conservation paradigm, explicitly recognizing the need to bridge the interests of landowners and outsiders. Eloquent theoretical assessments have praised the absolute advantages of PES over traditional conservation approaches. Some pilot PES exist in the tropics, but many field practitioners and prospective service buyers and sellers remain skeptical about the concept. This paper aims to help demystify PES for non-economists, starting with a simple and coherent definition of the term. It then provides practical ‘how-to’ hints for PES design. It considers the likely niche for PES in the portfolio of conservation approaches. This assessment is based on a literature review, combined with field observations from research in Latin America and Asia. It concludes that service users will continue to drive PES, but their willingness to pay will only rise if schemes can demonstrate clear additionality vis-à-vis carefully established baselines, if trust-building processes with service providers are sustained, and PES recipients’ livelihood dynamics is better understood. PES best suits intermediate and/or projected threat scenarios, often in marginal lands with moderate conservation opportunity costs. People facing credible but medium-sized environmental degradation are more likely to become PES recipients than those living in relative harmony with Nature. The choice between PES cash and in-kind payments is highly context-dependent. Poor PES recipients are likely to gain from participation, though their access might be constrained and non-participating landless poor could lose out. PES is a highly promising conservation approach that can benefit buyers, sellers and improve the resource base, but it is unlikely to completely outstrip other conservation instruments. 2005 2012-06-04T09:09:12Z 2012-06-04T09:09:12Z Book https://hdl.handle.net/10568/19193 en Wunder, S. 2005. Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolts . CIFOR Occasional Paper No.42. 24p.
spellingShingle services
livelihoods
rural communities
conservation
incentives
economics
Wunder, Sven
Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolts
title Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolts
title_full Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolts
title_fullStr Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolts
title_full_unstemmed Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolts
title_short Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolts
title_sort payments for environmental services some nuts and bolts
topic services
livelihoods
rural communities
conservation
incentives
economics
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/19193
work_keys_str_mv AT wundersven paymentsforenvironmentalservicessomenutsandbolts