PES: Basic concepts and outstanding issues. A WWF perspective

This presentation describes the concept of PES, which involves three main components: "the ecosystem service, the payment arrangements, and what each party is putting in and getting out of the deal." Ecosystem services - 'whatever nature provides that is valuable to humans' - fall into several different categories (provisioning, regulating, supportive, and cultural services) and occur on different scales (from local to global). There is wide variety in the types of possible payment arrangements for ecosystem services. The conceptual approaches to PES also vary significantly between market, social development, and conservationist perspectives. Current experiences and lessons learned from PES initiatives are summarized. There are multiple reasons why WWF intends to use PES schemes, and has taken steps in that direction, although as of 2005 WWF had not fully implemented any PES schemes. There are important criteria to consider in deciding if a PES approach is appropriate for any specific conservation project.