Payment for environmental services: Guidelines for identifying priority areas focusing on biodiversity

Abstract

The economic tool of Payment for Environmental Services (PES) has been considered as an alternative for the conservation of the biodiversity and ecosystem services in private lands. To guide decision makers in implementing PES schemes, this paper aimed to identify in the scientific literature the important elements to prioritize areas in the implementation of PES-biodiversity schemes. It is claimed that the elements extracted from PES-biodiversity schemes must be used as a reference to guide the implementation of other PES schemes based on the recovery and maintenance of natural areas (e.g. water, carbon, environmental aesthetics conditions). Thus, the sustainability of PES schemes can be guaranteed over time.