Valuing forests, but not the labor that protects them: international payments for ecosystem services in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

This article questions the promise of nature-based solutions (NBS) to generate income for communities by analyzing how payments for ecosystem services (PES) compensate or marginalize traditional sustainable production in the Brazilian Amazon. It finds two PES approaches: In the 2000s, peasant movements proposed the Public Program for the Sustainable Development of Rural Family Production in the Amazon, which compensated work and provided technical assistance. In contrast, the dominant PES projects aim for green business but restrict traditional production practices. The shift reflects the exploitation of ‘green labour' and the global push by agribusiness and finance to collect rents from NBS.