ABSTRACT
One of the most pressing natural resource challenges facing society is how best to manage forests to retain and sustain the services on which people and communities rely on. Traditional approaches have not been sufficiently effective, as discussed by David Cohen. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) in 2003 identified a number of ecosystems in many regions of the world where degradation was significant and where stresses were increasing. The mechanism by which a Payment for Environmental Services (PES) scheme works seems straightforward. The provider in theory receives a payment equal or greater to the opportunity cost of continuing their current business plan. Since 1997, Costa Rica's national program of Payment for Environmental Services has confronted the challenge of deforestation and environmental degradation that the country had been facing from the 1960s. This was the first larger-scale PES experience in the developing world, and has become the most studied.
