Payments for Ecoystem Services
What works in tropical forest conservation, and what does not: Effectiveness of four strategies in terms of environmental, social, and economic outcomesBackgroundOpen access copy available |
The global status and trends of Payments for Ecosystem ServicesBackgroundPayments for Ecosystem Services (PES) have expanded significantly in recent decades. These schemes aim to internalize the positive externalities that natural systems generate. PES creates incentives for landholders to adopt behaviors that sustain ecosystem service provision and, in some cases, generates additional revenue streams for conservation. However, it captures only a small fraction of the total value that natural systems provide. Researchers face challenges in collecting comprehensive and reliable data on PES due to its relatively recent emergence and the diversity of practices across different geographic scales. Available with subscription or purchase |
The Effectiveness of Payments for Environmental ServicesBackgroundThe academic debate on how effectively Payments for Environmental Services (PES) achieve environmental and socioeconomic goals continues to grow. Researchers initially focused on defining the concept and documenting early field experiences. Over time, they shifted their attention to designing effective incentives, analyzing behavioral responses, conducting systematic reviews, and applying counterfactual-based impact evaluations to assess outcomes more rigorously. Available with subscription or purchase |
Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in Latin America: Analysing the performance of 40 case studiesBackgroundAvailable with subscription or purchase |
Mining in the Amazon: Importance, impacts, and challenges to restore degraded ecosystems. Are we on the right way?Background:With mining playing a significant role in the economies of Amazonian countries, there is a growing urgency to understand, mitigate, and restore the degraded ecosystems that result from these mining operations. These tasks present a complex set of challenges, including technological limitations, legal inconsistencies, and a shortage of qualified professionals. Available with subscription or purchase |
Cash for conservation: Do payments for ecosystem services work?BackgroundPayments for ecosystem services (PES) programs make payments to land owners for the ecosystem services such as clean water or carbon storage that their land provides to create incentives to protect the land. One of the objectives of these projects is to promote local economic development along with conservation outcomes. Researchers have sought to critically assess the assumptions behind these programs and their implementation. Open access copy available |
Payments for ecosystem services and the fatal attraction of win-win solutionsBackgroundPayments for ecosystem services (PES) programs involve valuing and paying stewards of ecosystems for the services that these ecosystems create incentives for conserving them. These programs are sometimes characterized as ‘win-win’ solutions, with the potential to contribute to both biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction. The authors of this paper review the literature on PES programs and highlight some challenges of implementing them. Open access copy available |
The Little Book of Investing in Nature: A simple guide to financing life on earthBackgroundThe authors of this book point out that the international community has missed almost all collective biodiversity targets till date. Insufficient finance or the large gap between the funds that are required for biodiversity conservation and the funds that are allotted and the inappropriate implementation of existing finance mechanisms are part of the reason for the continued decline in global biodiversity. Open access copy available |
Financing Nature: Closing the Global Biodiversity Financing GapBackgroundThe authors of this report point out that current economic systems promote unsustainable levels of land conversion for infrastructural and agricultural growth and natural resource extraction. They outline some economic and social reasons for protecting nature, and argue that economic systems need to be transformed to incentivize financing biodiversity conservation instead of enabling unsustainable land conversion and natural resource extraction. Open access copy available |
The global status and trends of Payments for Ecosystem ServicesBackgroundAvailable with subscription or purchase |