Sunday, October 4, 2015

Payment for Ecosystem Services

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is a payment which seeks to decrease pollution and preserve the environment. Incentives are given to landowners or farmers for management of their land, such as paying farmers to adopt less polluting agricultural methods and paying landowners to preserve the land. The payers can be the government, with the interests of the people, or the private sector for their own interests (e.g. companies adopting PES to meet pollution regulations).

Although PES is beneficial to the environment, there are difficulties implementing it. Quantifying the value of an ecosystem is an issue as it is hard to determine how much the ecosystem is actually worth, and different parties view the value differently. Furthermore, it is difficult to ensure guaranteed results due to varying conditions of each ecosystem. In addition, the services provided only last a certain period, thereafter pollution may return, cancelling off any positive effects that PES has brought.

PES is still a viable option for keeping pollution in control. It will be adopted even more in the future alongside greater consumption, production, and the resulting pollution by mankind. Improvements in PES will be required to meet future demands. Cost-savings and effectiveness of the services can be increased with R&D. Occasional checks and enforcement will be needed to ensure the provided services are effective. Long term plans will have to come in play after PES contracts expire to protect the ecosystems.



References

Wunder, S. (2007). The efficiency of payments for environmental services in tropical conservation. Conservation biology21(1), 48-58. Doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00559.x

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