BIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOLS - Portal do Professor

PART II / CHAPTER 6
There are also many different types of PES deals, ranging
from hundreds of small and private site-specific schemes to
larger government-regulated schemes 15
and multilateral
environmental agreements such as the Clean Development
Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol.
PES schemes have the potential to be more cost-efficient
than regulatory and subsidized approaches to environmental
conservation that rely heavily on public financial resources
to function. PES schemes usually have flexible and need-based
structures that can support themselves in the long run.
Overall, PES schemes can be more adaptive and effective than
a purely regulatory approach to conservation.
For example, PES schemes can be implemented when the
creation of protected areas would be impossible due to socioeconomic
or political contexts. They are easy to administer
The principle objective of PES schemes is to establish an
economic incentive to foster more efficient and sustainable
use of biological resources and ecosystems. 18
Nevertheless,
PES schemes can also contribute to poverty alleviation,
particularly among rural communities whose livelihoods are
highly dependent on the use of natural resources in
surrounding areas. Population pressures or lack of economic
opportunities based on anything other than short-term
incentives can lead to unsustainable forest management
or farming practices. PES schemes can mitigate this cycle
by offering longer-term incentives for the sustainable use
of resources through opportunities for low-income
communities to gain additional employment or other
economically valuable benefits for their conservation
of ecosystems. Supporting livelihoods through small
economic incentives over many years may offer an
and can be flexible with respect to which land uses are and
are not allowed under its scheme, thus targeting its efforts
towards local conservation and socio-economic
development. 16
In spite of the promising basis of the PES concept, many
PES experts urge caution against accepting it as a panacea,
arguing that the success of PES schemes are highly dependent
on a large set of circumstances and demand substantial
groundwork before they can succeed. In addition to the
concern that PES systems only work in conditions with a
clear market demand, they also seem to rely on well-organized
providers and users with clear and secure property rights.
Furthermore, transaction costs of a PES scheme must not
be too high to offset any potential gains for both the
user(s) and provider(s). 17
3. Community Engagement with PES Schemes
BIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOLS IN THE
CONTEXT OF PAYMENT FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
important increase to net income in the community while
functioning as impetus for adopting a more sustainable
approach to land and ecosystem management. 19
However, it is not always the case that communities engage
in unsustainable use of biological resources. Indeed, many
examples exist in which local communities actively maintain
and conserve the biodiversity on which their livelihoods
and bio-cultural heritage depend. It is often highlighted
how ILCs such as the Raika, discussed earlier in this book,
contribute to and sometimes become leaders in the
conservation of local biodiversity through their sustainable
land use practices. In such cases, PES schemes can offer a
reward for the maintenance of such services and an
acknowledgement of the contribution of their bio-cultural
practices to conservation.
15. See for example the case of Costa Rica: “Payment for Environmental Services and Rural Communities: Lessons from the Americas” Herman Rosa, Susan Kandel,
Leopoldo Dimas and Ernesto Mendez, PRISMA (Programa Salvadoreño de Investigación sobre Desarrollo y Medio Ambiente)
16. Supra note 10.
17. Ibid.
18. Supra note 6.
19. Ibid.
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