ABSTRACT

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are a popular approach to promote the provision of ecosystem services. A first debate relates to the degree to which PES should rely on private sector involvement through business and corporations. A second debate relates to the degree to which PES can and should address environmental and social objectives at the same time. A third debate centers on the actual performance of PES approaches. Empirical studies show that the environmental effectiveness of PES often falls behind expectations. It has been argued that this can be due to ignoring important PES design lessons and that effective PES design is a complex and context-dependent task. Ongoing research aims to assess the performance of PES via randomized controlled trials and to incorporate behavioral economic insights in PES design.