Payments for Ecosystem Services Getting Started, A Primer

This primer is designed to provide you with a solid understanding of what Payments for Ecosystem Service (PES) are and how PES deals work. It is intended for an audience interested in exploring the potential of PES -- either as prospective PES sellers themselves or as staff of organizations that work directly with communities or landowners who may be interested in PES. The primer should be read before you set out to design a PES deal, as it provides guidance on conditions under which PES is most relevant and likely to succeed. It should also be read sequentially, as concepts defi ned in the early pages are built upon later

Trends and Future Potential of Payment for Ecosystem Services to Alleviate Rural Poverty in Developing Countries

Payment for ecosystem services (PES) is a market-based approach to environmental management that compensates land stewards for ecosystem conservation and restoration. Because lowincome households and communities control much of the ecologically sensitive land in developing countries, they potentially stand to gain from PES, as environmentally responsible stewardship is assigned a value by various actors in society. To date, however, instances of PES benefiting the poor have been limited mainly to specific localities, small-scale projects, and a handful of broader government programs. We analyze the size, characteristics, and trends of PES to evaluate its future potential to benefit low-income land stewards in developing countries. We estimate that by the year 2030, markets for biodiversity conservation could benefit 10-15 million low-income households in developing countries, carbon markets could benefit 25-50 million, markets for watershed protection could benefit 80-100 million, and markets for landscape beauty and recreation could benefit 5-8 million. If payments and markets reach these potentials, they could provide a non-negligible contribution to poverty alleviation at the global level

How important will different types of compensation and reward mechanisms be in shaping poverty and ecosystem services across Africa, Asia and Latin America over the next two decades?

This paper is the 9th paper in a series of nine interlinked papers commissioned by the Rural Poverty and Environment Programme (RPE) of the International Development Research Center (IDRC) as part of a research project entitled ‘Scoping Study of Compensation for Ecosystem Services’. The purpose of this project is to provide the RPE with a broader and richer deliberation on the potential for economic instruments (including market, financial and incentive based instruments) which conserve ecosystem services and at the same time contribute to poverty reduction in the developing world. // The development of Compensation and Rewards for Environmental Services (CRES) will have differential impact on poor resource managers and poor consumers depending upon the characteristics of the resource itself, the financial and other values for different beneficiaries, and the design of payment and market systems. In this early stage of CRES development, there are significant opportunities to shape that development in ways that will have greater benefits for the poor and for poverty reduction. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relative importance of different types of CRES in shaping poverty and ecosystem services across the developing world, as they are likely to evolve over the next two decades

Compensation and rewards for environmental services in the developing world : framing pan-tropical analysis and comparison

This is the first of a series of nine papers exploring the state of the science and practice of compensation and rewards for environmental services in the developing world. This study has been undertaken to address key questions about the impact and future prospects of compensation and rewards for ecosystem services, and the potential role of research and policy engagement in helping to make these instruments more beneficial to the poor in the developing world. The papers resulting from this study have been prepared by an international group of authors as part of a pan-tropical scoping study for the Rural Poverty and Environment Programme of the International Development Research Centre of Canada. All of the papers focus on the frontiers between the ecosystems that underlie rural livelihoods, the environmental services that those ecosystems generate, and the human well-being of rural populations. // This introductory paper begins with a review of the recent historical development of compensation and reward mechanisms within a broader context of changing approaches to conservation and environmental policy. Conservation approaches have moved from a sole focus on protected areas, to integrated conservation and development projects, to landscape management approaches, and now, consideration of conservation contracts. At roughly the same time, there has been a general relaxation of government enforcement of environmental regulations towards more multi-stakeholder forms of governance in which non-governmental and international organizations play roles and a variety of market-based and negotiation approaches have come to the fore. That dynamic context is fostering greater interest in mechanisms for compensation and reward for environmental services in the developing regions of the world. Later sections of the paper clarify key concepts and present a conceptual framework for characterizing different types of mechanisms and the internal and external factors affecting those mechanisms. The penultimate section summarizes experience and perceptions of compensation and reward for environmental services. The concluding section postulates the alternative motivations that are shaping compensation and reward mechanisms in the developing world

Organization and governance for fostering pro-poor compensation for environmental services

This paper is the 8th in a series of nine interlinked papers commissioned by the Rural Poverty and Environment Programme (RPE) of the International Development Research Center (IDRC) as part of a research project entitled ‘Scoping Study of Compensation for Ecosystem Services’. The purpose of this project is to provide the RPE with a broader and richer deliberation on the potential for economic instruments (including market, financial and incentive based instruments) which conserve ecosystem services and at the same time contribute to poverty reduction in the developing world. // This paper was prepared by Forest Trends, Ecoagriculture Partners and the Rights and Resources Initiative, with the support of the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) office in Sri Lanka, as well as coauthors of the remaining issue papers in the series. The purpose of this paper is to assess the requirements, current state and key issues related to organization and governance in the compensation and reward for ecosystem services (CRES) needed to achieve pro-poor outcomes. It reviews the institutional evolution of CRES both conceptually and in practice, and presents a broad view of the many governance, legal and political economy related aspects of CRES. // To increase potential for pro-poor outcomes of CRES, the opportunity for local conditions to define the supporting institutional structures and norms that surround CRES is critical. There are a wide range of institutional models of CRES that can benefit the poor, and these tend to include features such as: building upon and strengthening existing institutions of the poor, allowing flexibility in land use options and in the timeframe for adoption and adaptation of land use, simplification of monitoring and reporting to fit local capacity, and orientation and training of intermediary organizations who serve as brokers to the poor and help them to aggregate supply of CRES services and mediate with buyers. Some key priority actions and areas for further research conclude the paper

Compensation and Rewards for Environmental Services in the Developing World: Framing Pan-Tropical Analysis and Comparison

This is the first of a series of papers that review the state of knowledge and practice regarding compensation and rewards for environmental services in the developing world. The paper begins with an assessment of the historical development of compensation and reward mechanisms within a broader context of changing approaches to nature conservation and environmental policy. The assessment shows that greater interest in compensation and reward mechanisms has emerged within a policy context of changing approaches to nature conservation and flexible multi-stakeholder approaches to environmental management. In the developing world, an even greater variety of perspectives has emerged on the opportunities and threats for using compensation and rewards for environmental services. Within that background, the paper clarifies key concepts - including the distinction between compensation and reward - and presents a conceptual framework for typifying and characterizing different types of mechanisms that link ecosystem stewards, ecosystem service beneficiaries, and intermediaries