payment for ecosystem services
PAY-munt for EE-koh-sis-tum SUR-vis-iz
ˈpeɪmənt fər ˈiːkoʊˌsɪstəm ˈsɜːrvɪsɪzListen
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Dictionary meaning
a mechanism in which beneficiaries of ecosystem services provide direct payments to the stewards of ecosystems who maintain or enhance those services, creating financial incentives for conservation that the market would not otherwise generate; examples include Costa Rica's national PES programme paying landowners to maintain forest cover that protects watersheds and sequesters carbon, China's Sloping Land Conversion Programme compensating farmers who convert cropland on steep slopes to forest, and voluntary carbon markets that pay landowners for verified emission reductions; PES schemes have been credited with significant conservation successes but also criticised for commodifying nature, failing to reach the poorest communities, and producing outcomes that are difficult to verify and attribute
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