What is Payments for ecosystem services (PES)
Payments for ecosystem services (PES)
Incentives are given to people or communities in exchange for their adoption of a specific type of management of natural resources, more frequently land or water, to deliver some sort of ecological service. Payments for ecosystem or environmental services or benefits. One of the programs designed to encourage business entities or other market forces to invest in conservation is this one, which rewards communities for sustainable resource management with incentives (often financial). Examples of PES programmes include those where businesses or society pay for habitat preservation or restoration, tree planting or organic farming, preserving water and soil, managing river flow, etc. The recipients of payment are the "providers/suppliers" in this situation, while corporations or society operate as the "buyers" of ecosystem services.
Sven Wunder proposed a definition of PES that has gained widespread acceptance. He states that A payment for environmental services scheme” is: A voluntary transaction in which,
- a well-defined ecosystem service (ES), or a form of land use likely to secure that service is bought by at least one ES buyer from a minimum of one ES provider
- If and only if the provider continues to supply that service (conditionality)
Contracts between suppliers and customers of ecosystem services are a part of several PES projects. The majority of PES initiatives, however, are government-funded and involve middlemen like non-governmental organisations. The owner of an environmental good that offers a stream of benefits to the party making the demand in exchange for payment is often the party providing the environmental services. In private contracts, those who benefit from ecosystem services are willing to pay a price that is likely to be less than the welfare benefit they would receive from the services. It is reasonable to assume that the ecosystem service providers will be open to accepting a payment that exceeds the cost of providing the services. Many of these environmental services are now either undervalued or have no economic value. Markets for ecosystem services are forming in nations all over the world in response to growing concerns. There are now formal markets for greenhouse gases (carbon), water, and even biodiversity, some of which are voluntary and others which are required by law. PES primarily provide financial incentives to encourage more effective and long-term usage of ecosystem services and can be used to address concerns with poverty eradication.
Examples of PES
Bottled water is produced by the French business Perrier Vittel, which is currently owned by Nestlé. They found that maintaining the farms near their water sources would be more cost-effective than building a new filtration facility to address water quality issues detected in 1990. So they bought 600 acres of delicate habitat and entered into long-term conservation agreements with nearby farms. In order to embrace less intensive pasture-based dairy farming, enhance animal waste management, and reforest vulnerable filtration zones, farmers in the Rhine-Meuse watershed in northeastern France got compensation. One of the intriguing PES examples can be found in India. Kuhan is a Himalayan settlement that is downstream. Water for agriculture and drinking was sourced from the dam constructed at Kuhan. But because there was too much mud pouring from upstream, it had become silted up. The villagers identified the issue with assistance from the nonprofit Winrock International. The Ooch village's high up the hills grazing land supplied the most of the silt. The dam protection issues were discussed between the two villages, and a formal agreement was made. On its four-hectare common ground, Ooch forbade grazing for eight years and planted bamboo, elephant grass, fruit and fodder-bearing tree saplings. In exchange, Kuhan paid for the seedlings and even negotiated a deal to provide Ooch with irrigation water as needed. This arrangement functioned for a while, but the Public Works Department (PWD) road that connected Kuhan to the highway caused the dam to get silted once more. Kuhan had asked the PWD to cover the cost of cleaning the reservoir, but to no avail. The farmers decided to break the dam wall in 2007's pre-monsoon after deliberations in the village. Following that, they intended to put up iron gates to seal the breach and stop future issues of a similar nature. Kuhan and Ooch are still in harmony with one another. It serves as an illustration of how relationships between two communities that are centred on natural resources can be improved for both parties.
The TEEB report covered a number of methods for valuing ecological services economically, both locally and globally. Climate change-related topics were also included in the reports. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), which can help fight climate change and also be a crucial anti-poverty and adaptation strategy, was mentioned as a significant investment in ecosystem-based strategies.
.png)
Comments