GUIDELINES FOR PLANNING AND DESIGNING PAYMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES SCHEMES

Abstract

Payment for Environmental Services (PES) is an economic instrument that aims to reconcile the conservation of ecosystem services (ES) with the economic interests of the actors involved. In order to guide decision makers in the process of structuring and planning PES schemes, this article analyzed Brazilian schemes against the best practices recommended in the scientific literature. As a result, monitoring the SE provision or its proxies and spatial segmentation were practices observed in Brazilian schemes in line with literature recommendations. The same did not happen with practices: flexible and/or adaptable contracts and payments greater than provision costs. These results are useful to reinforce strengths and point out possible vulnerabilities in the design of PES schemes, contributing to the improvement of both new and ongoing initiatives.