Payments for Ecosystem Services: Getting Started. A Primer - UNEP

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Payments for Ecosystem Services: Getting Started A Primer Ecosystems provide society with a wide range of services — from reliable flows of clean water to productive soil and carbon sequestration. People, companies, and societies rely on these services — for raw material inputs, production processes, and climate stability. (See Table 1 and Box 1 for illustrative ecosystem services as well as a full breakdown of ecosystem service types.) TABLE 1 Types of Ecosystem Services Forests Oceans Cultivated / Agricultural Lands Environmental Goods • Food • Fresh water • Fuel • Fiber • Food • Food • Fuel • Fiber Regulating Services • Climate regulation • Flood regulation • Disease regulation • Water purifi cation • Climate regulation • Disease regulation • Climate regulation • Water purifi cation Supporting Services • Nutrient cycling • Soil formation • Nutrient cycling • Primary production • Nutrient cycling • Soil formation Cultural Services • Aesthetic • Spiritual • Educational • Recreational • Aesthetic • Spiritual • Educational • Recreational • Aesthetic • Educational Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005 (http://www.millenniumassessment.org) At present, however, many of these ecosystem services are either undervalued or have no fi nancial value at all. As day-to-day decisions often focus on immediate fi nancial returns, many ecosystem structures and functions are being fundamentally undercut. 1 The most comprehensive assessment of ecosystem services to date — the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which included over 1,300 scientists from 95 countries — found that over 60% of the environmental services studied are being degraded faster than they can recover. 2 In response to growing concerns, markets are emerging for ecosystem services in countries around the world. Formal markets — some voluntary and others mandated by law — now exist related to greenhouse gases (carbon), water, and even biodiversity. 3 In addition, focused business deals and PES are also being forged to invest in restoration and maintenance of particular ecological systems and the services that they provide. 1 For more information, please see: Daily, Gretchen C. 1997. Nature’s Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Washington, DC: Island Press; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. “Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Synthesis” Washington, D.C.: World Resources Institute (http://www.maweb.org/ documents/document.356.aspx.pdf) 2 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. “Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Synthesis” Washington, D.C.: World Resources Institute (http://www.maweb.org/documents/document.356.aspx.pdf) 3 For more information, please see: http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/ 2
Section 1: Ecosystem Services & Emerging Markets & Payments BOX 1 Illustrative Ecosystem Services The key characteristic of these PES deals is that the focus is on maintaining a fl ow of a specifi ed ecosystem “service” — such as clean water, biodiversity habitat, or carbon sequestration capabilities — in exchange for something of economic value. The critical, defi ning factor of what constitutes a PES transaction, however, is not just that money changes hands and an environmental service is either delivered or maintained. Rather, the key is that the payment causes the benefit to occur where it would not have otherwise. That is, the service is “additional” to “business as usual,” or at the very least, the service can be quantifi ed and tied to the payment. In order to ensure that the ecological service is indeed maintained — as buyers expect for their money — the transactions require regular and independent verifi cation of sellers’ actions and their impact on the resources. Therefore, sellers must: • Purifi cation of air and water • Regulation of water fl ow • Detoxifi cation and decomposition of wastes • Generation and renewal of soil and soil fertility • Pollination of crops and natural vegetation • Control of agricultural pests • Dispersal of seeds and translocation of nutrients • Maintenance of biodiversity • Partial climatic stabilization • Moderation of temperature extremes • Wind breaks • Support for diverse human cultures • Aesthetic beauty and landscape enrichment Source: Daily, Gretchen (Editor). 1997. Nature’s Services. Washington D.C., USA: Island Press. • maintain or enhance specifi c ecological structures and functions beyond what would have happened in the absence of payment, and • remain accountable to independent verifi ers (if a buyer requires) to ensure that the “service” being paid for is indeed being delivered. A defi nition for PES that has become fairly wellaccepted has been put forward by Sven Wunder, in which he explains, “A payment for environmental services scheme” is: 1. a voluntary transaction in which 2. a well-defined environmental service (ES), or a form of land use likely to secure that service 3. is bought by at least one ES buyer 4. from a minimum of one ES provider 5. if and only if the provider continues to supply that service (conditionality).” 4 4 Wunder, Sven 2005, quoted on CIFOR website: http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/pes/_ref/about/index.htm 3
Page 1 and 2: Payments for Ecosystem Services: Ge
Page 3 and 4: Table Of Contents Preface Executive
Page 5 and 6: Preface Well-functioning ecosystems
Page 7: Executive Summary This primer is de
Page 17 and 18: Section 1: Ecosystem Services & Eme
Page 19 and 20: Section 2: Pro-Poor PES: Opportunit
Page 25: Section 2: Pro-Poor PES: Opportunit
Page 60 and 61:
Payments for Ecosystem Services: Ge
Page 62 and 63:
Page 64 and 65:
Page 66 and 67:
Page 68 and 69:
Page 70 and 71:
Page 72 and 73:
Page 74:
www.unep.org United Nations Environ
show all

Payments for Ecosystem Services: Getting Started. A Primer - UNEP

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?