Posted on August, 15 2013

Payments for ecosystem service (PES) is an innovative approach to nature conservation. PES is the name given to a variety of arrangements through which people who benefit from environmental services – from watershed protection and forest conservation to carbon sequestration and landscape beauty – reward those whose lands provide these services. 

Arranging payments for the benefits provided by forests, fertile soils and other ecosystems is a way to recognize their value and ensure that these benefits continue well into the future. With funding for natural resource management being scarce, a variety of PES schemes have emerged around the globe as potential sources of sustainable financing for conservation.