Payments for environmental services (PES), especially in tropical regions, need to be recognized as an important tool for conservation and sustainable use of forests and other natural resources and better incorporated into national policies.

This was the conclusion made by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) during the International Forum on Payments for Environmental Services of Tropical Forests, held in Costa Rica in April 2014.

PES mechanisms provide economic incentives to farmers and forest landowners in return for activities that conserve and sustainably manage natural resources, such as agroforestry, reforestation or regeneration and forest protection and management.

The types of environmental services these activities can enhance include mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, protection of watersheds and landscapes, and biodiversity conservation.

An article on Noodls outlines how Costa Rica pioneered the first tropical country PES approach in 1996 and this has increased the country’s overall forest cover from 29 per cent to 51 per cent.

However, implementing successful PES schemes requires well-defined property rights and tenure systems. This can be a major challenge in areas with poor, indigenous and traditionally forest-dependent communities. There also needs to be political will that recognizes the value of ecosystem services and funding available for PES.

PES schemes in countries such as Costa Rica and Brazil also help to improve the livelihoods of local people through diversification of their activities and new sources of income.

Read the full story: FAO and ITTO highlight vast potential of payments for environmental services for conservation of tropical forests