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

Section 3: A Step-by-Step Approach to Developing PES Deals
If sellers decide to join together, then all of these issues can be addressed for groups
in a range of ways. (For further information and examples, please see the boxes on
“Aggregation of Multiple Buyers and Sellers” and “Examples from Uganda and Mexico
of Aggregating Multiple Sellers”).
If brokers or aggregators are involved, you should make sure that all sellers have a
voice in all aspects of PES negotiation. Easements, concessions, long-term land
leases and management contracts may lock landowners and resource users into
particular management commitments for long periods of time, depending on the term
of the agreement. If these commitments forbid sellers from engaging in other activities,
sellers may fi nd their hands tied when it comes to responding to new economic
opportunities and threats.
BOX 19
Aggregating Multiple Buyers and Sellers
Multiple buyers and sellers can be aggregated in a variety of ways.
Pre-existing community organizations can serve as the basis for
an aggregated group of buyers, provided that most (or all) people
engaged in this community organization wish to participate and that there
is interest on behalf of the buyer in having that set of lands for which the
group is responsible engaged in the sale.
Another approach is for an external organization to work with
community residents to assess interest in PES deals and to
assemble an interested group of landowners and resource users.
Many other pathways to aggregation exist — with a range of structures, such
as working with pre-existing (or forming new):
For example, as prices change
over time, payments for ecosystem
services and income from new
management systems may no longer
cover opportunity costs. Therefore,
it is essential to think through all
of these issues, and prepare from
the very beginning. In addition, it is
imperative to negotiate sections of the
contract that would enable the sellers
to re-negotiate terms in the event of
specifi c circumstances (such as costs
of implementation or inputs needed
rising far above current rates).
• cooperatives
• legally-registered organizations
• government managed aggregation entities
BOX 20
Examples from Uganda and Mexico of Aggregating Multiple Sellers
Aggregation of farmers in Uganda has occurred in order to engage in international carbon markets, in this case with the buyer
being the UK-based packaging fi rm Tetra Pak. The group of farmers interact with the Uganda-based NGO Ecotrust, which in
turn works with the Edinburgh Center for Carbon Management.
Beatrice Ahimbisibwe is one of the farmers within this deal, which has required her to plant a hectare of land with native trees.
Over the course of the contract years, these trees will sequester 57 tons of carbon, and Beatrice will earn $8 per ton or $456.
While the trees are growing, Beatrice will be able to let her goats graze around the trees. When the contract is complete, she
will be able to use or sell the wood.
Similarly, in Sierra Gorda, Mexico, farmers are being aggregated and their carbon sequestration activities are being sold as
part of the offset program for the United Nations Foundation and other organizations.
Sources: Bayon, Ricardo. 2005. “From Ugandan Schoolteacher to International Carbon Consultant: A Profi le of Beatrice Ahimbisibwe.” The Ecosystem
Marketplace (http://ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/article.people.profi le.php?component_id=4000&component_version_id=6451&language_id=12);
http://www.unfoundation.org/features/earthday2006.asp; http://www.sierragordamexico.org/en/index.html
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