ABSTRACT
Payments for ecosystem services (PES) aim to translate the often non-market value of environmental goods and services into financial incentives to preserve the ecosystems that provide these services. Hybrid forms of PES have many attractive characteristics relative to other conservation approaches and are often carried out with the participation of local stakeholders as a form of co-management. PES efficiency is not only determined by the extent to which incremental ES are provided, but also by the cost at which this is achieved. Assessments of success and failure factors have also focused on PES as a mechanism for both environmental protection and poverty reduction. Bulte et al. show that tying together PES and poverty reduction may result in lower efficiency in meeting either objective. In practice, PES schemes are developed and implemented in a wide variety of shapes and forms, often based on more than one single ecosystem objective.
