ABSTRACT
With their emphasis on the measurement and monetary valuation of discrete functions of nature, payments for ecosystem services (PES) may seem like the antithesis of intangible and nonmaterial cultural ecosystem services (CES). In reality, however, the use of ES proxies means that we are not actually paying to conserve biodiversity or capture carbon, but for management practices meant to achieve these outcomes. And, as recognition grows of the need for policies that acknowledge diverse ways of valuing nature, it becomes a natural next step to purposefully design PES programs that target CES. The purpose of this chapter is, therefore, to take a closer look at how interactions between PES and CES are being measured and reported, and whose values are being promoted, based on two databases of peer-reviewed PES articles spanning 1,158 publications between 2003 and 2022. Findings indicate a growing interest in creating or modifying PES programs to include CES, but limited evidence of whether this works, and for whom. The dominance of examples from the Global North, as well as the overwhelming number of cases of PES linked to tourism, suggests that only a limited set of cultural values are currently being considered within PES design and implementation.
