Developing markets for forest environmental services: an opportunity for promoting equity while securing efficiency?

In May 2001, Sustainable Forestry Management Ltd, a London-based private-investment fund, purchased 48 000 t of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from native American Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes generated through the reforestation of 100 hectares of their Montana reservation. In 1999, Botanical Garden Trading Company Ltd, a start-up company aiming to compete for worldwide flower delivery, offered to return 2.5% of its turnover to conservation initiatives in biodiversity ‘hotspots’ of horticultural interest and to pay for access to these areas. In the Philippines, the Makiling Forest Reserve is negotiating with major local water users for the implementation of a water-shed protection and conservation fee to pay for watershed services received.