Payment for Water-Related Ecosystem Services as a Strategic Watershed Management Approach

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have been created worldwide to assist watershed management and improve or maintain water quality. Considering their importance, we conducted a holistic review of payment for water-related ecosystem services to understand how this instrument has been applied in watershed management worldwide. First, we identified the watershed management actions considered by the PES programs and the challenges of implementing water-related PES. After we identified the methods and criteria used to define priority areas for water-related PES. Our review considered articles published on the Web of Science from 2011 to 2022. We found 236 articles relating PES to water resources, highlighting the main water conservation strategies: native vegetation conservation, native vegetation restoration, and implementing best agricultural practices. The method most frequent was interview, followed by the use of technologies, document analysis, and hydrological models. Another significant result was that priority areas for receiving PES are mainly riparian zones, areas near or with native vegetation cover, areas with higher erosion potential, steep areas, and areas with socially vulnerable communities. This review was crucial to identify efficient water resource conservation strategies and potential challenges in the implementation and development of PES programs.

A review of spatial targeting methods of payment for ecosystem services

Payments for Ecosystem Services(PES)have been studied extensively over the past decade as an important policy tool for coordinating ecological protection and regional socioeconomic development.One of the greatest challenges of PES implementation is to understand where to pay,i.e.,spatial targeting,which can directly impact PES effectiveness and efficiency.In this study,we conducted a systematic review of spatial targeting methods based on literature analysis using Citespace.Firstly,peer-reviewed articles related to spatial targeting of PES were selected from the Web of Science database based on keywords.Cases applying PES spatial targeting methods were then chosen and analyzed after all articles were read.In total,70%of the chosen cases focused on improving the compensation efficiency of biodiversity or another single environmental objective,whereas the remaining cases focused on coordinating trade-offs between equity and efficiency or multiple environmental objectives.The main PES spatial targeting approaches included cost-benefit analysis,multi-objective optimization,data envelope analysis and other methods aimed at specific issues.Of these,cost-benefit analysis has been most widely applied at different scales,including county,regional and watershed scales.Significant differences among the different PES spatial targeting methods were found,including in PES spatial targeting dimensions,efficiency optimization approaches and method application conditions.The practice of PES spatial targeting requires the selection of appropriate methods based on contextual biophysical and socioeconomic conditions as well as relevant environmental issues.The combined application of PES spatial targeting methods,compensation willingness of stakeholders and dynamic implementation of PES spatial targeting should be considered in future research.

Payment for ecosystem services:emerging lessons

Market based initiatives for management of degrading ecosystems and their services have received the added attention as one of the innovative responses in the reent years. Those initiatives such as direct and indirect payment for ecosystem services like premium for rain forest honey, payment by the people at the lower reach to those at the upper reach for the watershed services etc. have drawn the attention of the decision makers as they have proved to be far more cost effective.This paper wynthesizes the key messages from some of the paper are carbon, watershed services and biodiversity, We find that while credible valuation of ecosystem services for all services remain a critical concern behind setting up the payment mechanism, absent of necessary institutional framework may seriously undermine this innovative response for management of ecosystems. In the paper, necessary institutional mechanisms enabling the market for those services have been sketched out, Key messages from those cases have been synthesized.

Payments for Ecosystem Services Incentives and Adoption of Land Use Interventions in Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania

The role played by Payments for ecosystem services (PES) in promoting land use interventions is increasingly being recognized as an important instrument for changing land use management worldwide. Despite the increase, adoption of land use interventions promoted by PES and factors influencing it are not well understood. This study was carried out to assess the adoption of land use interventions promoted by PES scheme four years after its implementation in the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania. The specific objectives of this study were to assess the adoption and factors that influenced it. The study employed questionnaire survey method to collect data from 219 households selected randomly. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were also conducted to complement information obtained through questionnaire surveys. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were employed. Binary logistic regression was used to analyse quantitative data obtained, while content analysis was applied to qualitative data. Results revealed that during the project implementation, 40% of the households did not adopt any of the promoted interventions. Unexpectedly, four years after the project ended, every household sampled had adopted the interventions. Households headed by younger heads and those with land ownership, households which received PES incentives and lived for a long time in the same area and those with more labour force and access to extension services were found to have adopted more interventions (p ≤ 0.05). Thus, the study concludes that socioeconomic characteristics, agricultural extension services and incentives initially provided to farmers are key factors influencing the adoption of land use interventions. Therefore, it is recommended to the government that it should support farmers to get land tenure and to provide them with more incentives to improve their farms through adopting technologies.

Necessary Conditions and Situational Variables of Payments for Ecosystem Services

Clarifying the necessary conditions for the emergence of payments for ecosystem services (PES) and the situational variables that affect PES is the basis for their interpretation, prediction, and selection. This article proposes an analytical framework for the emergence of PES and argues that the key to determining whether PES can occur and whether a selected PES program is appropriate is to evaluate the net gain. When payers anticipate that a PES program will provide a satisfactory number of ES and a net gain over the opportunity cost and will cover all costs, it is assumed that the program will be implemented. When it is difficult to accurately evaluate the net gain of PES, the situational variables that affect the costs and benefits need to be examined. The group characteristics, ES characteristics, spatial and temporal contacts between the suppliers and demanders, correlation with private goods and additionality are important situational variables that affect the emergence and choice of PES.

Assessment of Payment for Ecosystem Services in Zomba Mountain Forest Catchment Area, Malawi

The emergence of Payment for Ecosystem Services （PES） concept has raised expectations that ecosystem conservation can be achieved through popular payments rather than through unpopular measures of command and control. A study on PES was conducted in Zomba Mountain Forest （ZMF） catchment area in southern Malawi between August and December 2009. The aim was to assess stakeholders＇ role that would promote payment for ecosystem services as a management tool. A purposive sampling was used to identify the respondents who were randomly sampled for interviews. The findings show that PES can be used as a management tool in ZMF as there are key stakeholders who benefit from the catchment area in terms of services. While there is moderate level of PES awareness among the community and other stakeholders, the current forest policy does not address PES which may derail implementation of a fully fledged PES arrangement. The study revealed that existing management challenges originate from inadequate funding that ZMF Reserve gets from government. However, this challenge offers opportunities to stakeholders through PES to contribute and participate in conserving ZMF for sustained flow of benefits.

Payment for Ecosystem Services Markets and Rural Development in BrazilmA Co-evolutionary Approach

The article discusses the payment for ecosystem or environmental services markets in Brazil with a critical review, based on the ecological economics literature and focused on the concept of co-evolution. It is argued that the mainstream approach which considers ecosystem services as an externality has many shortcomings and fails to consider institutional and political aspects---all very critical for the design and implementation of a PES （Payment for ecosystem services） project or program. The complexity and the diversity of co-evolutionary relations between ecosystem services and socioeconomic activities are spatially or territorially specific. In this sense, different types of PES market have to adapt and coevolve with different ongoing development processes.

Paying for Environmental Services

The Amazonian economic occupation over the last forty years has been extremely harmful to the environment and to the traditional populations. One of the strategies to overcome this difficulty, dealing with sustainable development, is the development of productive units—starting with non-timber forest products (NTFP)—and the Payment for Environmental Services (PES) for the residents and/or owners of forest areas. The main problem which the literature demonstrates is that the estimated values paid for the PES are rather high, because they use the opportunity cost as reference, not considering the family reproduction social cost. The main aim of this study is to provide an alternative forecast of the value to be paid for the environmental services (PES) for the Amazon forest, based on the real costs of the forest communities maintenance, as based on the real economic needs of rural family production in the “Chico Mendes” Extractive Reserve (RESEX), in Xapuri (Acre state), Brazil. It was used a specific methodology, developed regionally, which measured and provided indicators to evaluate and to analyze the economic evolution of those families over the last decade. Based on the needs of family reproduction, the calculations require that the minimum value for PES should be US$13 per hectare, a far lower and more appropriate value than the literature’s average propositions that is around US$50 per hectare. The present paper estimates that the costs of the PES in the Chico Mendes RESEX would be approximately US$5,767,000 per year—taking into account the average area per family.

Enhancing the Social and Natural Capital of Canadian Agro-Ecosystems through Incentive-Based “Alternative Land Use Services” (ALUS) Programs: Recurring Themes and Emerging Lessons

Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) is an incentive-based program established in Canada to pay farmers for their voluntary delivery of ecosystem services (ES). All seven ALUS programs across the country were examined using a standardized case-study approach based on site visits, reading internal documents, attending program meetings, and engaging in semi-structured interviews with program administrators, participating farmers, and advisory board members. Direct content analysis was used to highlight recurrent themes and emerging lessons in relation to the salient particulars of program physical location, administration framework, delivery of ES, and development and receipt by communities. Our three major findings are: 1) Overall, ALUS has been judged by participants to be a very successful program, whose strength is that it is completely voluntary, non-permanent, and readily adaptable to each location’s environmental conditions, economic funding base, and cultural milieu. 2) One serious shortcoming of all ALUS programs is a general lack of quantifiable data on their ability to increase ES. Instead, environmental benefits are either assumed or based on the idea that the areal extent of enrolled land is the sole measure of its environmental worth. 3) It may be that the social impact of ALUS is its greatest success. In this regard, for farmers, it is the process of engaging in land-use decision making and the recognition of their role as environmental stewards that is a bigger motivation for participating in an ALUS program than the modest financial incentives which they receive.

Open banking and inclusive finance in the European Union:perspectives from the Dutch stakeholder ecosystem

In the European Union(EU),the revised Payment Services Directive(PSD2)aims to provide more convenient and customized financial products through open banking(OB)platforms.However,little attention has been paid to the role of OB in improving the financial well-being of the growing number of the EU’s underserved groups,which currently constitute approximately a quarter of its population.This study examines how the PSD2 and OB impact inclusive finance in the EU based on the perspectives of the Netherlands’ecosystem,one of the leaders in the EU’s financial technology(FinTech)landscape.A fundamental distinction can be drawn between the OB users and the ecosystem’s players.Regarding the impact of financial services on the users’inclusivity,while the PSD2 strengthens the infrastructure necessary for financial inclusion,many challenges remain,mainly because it was not designed for this purpose.This study identifies several areas of improvement that include adjustments to the know your customer and anti-money laundering processes for underserved customers,innovative ways to communicate the PSD2’s potential,and the regulation of technology providers’activities to build trust.Meanwhile,from the ecosystem’s position,there is a need to strengthen and improve microfinance regulation according to the opportunities provided by the PSD2 to support microfinance institutions(MFIs)in scaling up and reaching underserved clients across borders with innovative services.OB improvements can also be achieved by organizations formed by MFIs and FinTechs in collaboration with banks.Such hybrid institutions will combine the best features of each of them:knowledge of the needs of local underserved clients from MFIs,technological innovations from FinTechs,and large and trusted customer bases,infrastructures,and access to institutional investments and governments from banks.Finally,an EU inclusive OB sector depends on the centrality of trusted regulators as coordination bodies.The PSD2 requires adjustments for underserved populations’specific needs.OB improvements can be achieved by organizations formed by MFIs and Fin-Techs in collaboration with banks.Regulated technical service providers(TSPs)are crucial to building trust and customer adoption in OB.The European Banking Authority(EBA)may function as coordination body to design inclusive rules by engaging with OB stakeholders.As inclusive finance moves into open-finance and data eras,an increasing regulatory complexity and scope will require networks of innovative and trusted regulators.

基于水供需服务流及外溢价值核算的太湖流域横向生态补偿机制

通过生态补偿协调流域内经济发展与生态保护的关系、缓解上下游利益相关者之间的矛盾是保障流域经济社会可持续发展的关键措施,而流域生态补偿核定的关键在于两点:一是如何模拟并量化水供需服务流动的流向、流量、流速及路径以明确供需双方及其空间关系;二是如何实现栅格尺度-地理单元-行政单元的尺度推演以实现不同行政单元之间生态系统服务的盈余、占用、外溢核算。整合卫星遥感、经济社会统计、水文气象观测等多源异构数据,集成水量平衡、水供需服务流动、生态价值核算等方法,构建了基于水供需流动及其外溢价值核算的流域横向生态补偿标准核定框架,利用D8流向法解决了水供需服务流动的流向、流量、流速及路径模拟与量化,实现了“栅格尺度-地形单元-行政单元”空间尺度推演的外溢价值核算,形成了流域内横向水生态补偿资金收取与分配方案。以太湖流域为例,在全面分析水资源外溢、占用及其价值的基础上,解析了县域尺度的水供需时空关系、流动路径及属性特征,辅以水质指标进而明确界定了责任方与补偿对象,形成了补偿资金收取与分配方案。结果表明,太湖流域水供需双方界线清晰、服务流近似于自然汇流过程,供给方以流域西部、西南部、中部县域为主,特别是西部至中部的县域,应受偿资金较多,平均各县应受偿资金比例超过2%/a,应受偿资金最多的嘉善区,比例超过19.66%/a;需求方聚集于流域中部、东部,特别是黄浦江自然汇流沿岸县域,应收取补偿资金较多,平均各县应收取资金比例超过5%/a,应收取最多的浦东新区,比例超过15.48%/a;净补偿资金基本呈现西高东低的分布特征,流域的大部分城市核心区的县域净补偿资金为负值。研究的核定框架、量化核算方法、资金统筹方案可应用到其他流域的横向生态补偿机制构建,实现流域内部与流域之间生态保护和经济发展的整体协调。

蓝碳生态产品价值实现的理论同构与路径选择

蓝碳生态产品价值实现是助推碳达峰碳中和目标达成的重要实践。厘清蓝碳生态产品的概念内涵及价值特征,是研究蓝碳生态产品价值实现过程、实现模式的逻辑基础。从当前我国蓝碳生态产品价值实现的实践探索来看,面临着立法支撑不足、蓝碳产品权属不清、交易监管机制不完善以及核算监测体系不健全的现实困境。蓝碳生态产品价值实现途径需要在公共物品理论、外部性理论、生态系统服务付费理论的指导下,从蓝碳法律制度体系、产权制度体系、交易与监管机制、蓝碳核算监测机制等制度机制方面进行完善,加快建立蓝碳生态产品价值实现的保障措施,促进海洋生态产品的可持续供给和效益最大化。

生态环境导向的开发(EOD)模式的理论逻辑与实践探索

本文基于生态环境导向的开发(EOD)模式的理论溯源,对中国式EOD模式的理论逻辑与实践探索进行了系统梳理。EOD模式以国际上“生态导向”的发展理念和市场化生态系统服务付费机制相结合作为理论源头,理论基础主要有生态系统服务付费理论、亨利乔治定理、公共选择理论。中国式EOD模式具有项目制、企业主体、增肥哺瘦和生态反哺的特征,核心逻辑是形成以生态资源支撑产业开发、以产业收益反哺生态修复的价值链闭环,即生态产品价值的转化与反哺。中国式EOD模式是在生态文明建设的时代背景下,为缓解地方政府生态环境保护的资金压力与金融风险这一现实需求涌现出来的创新性实践探索,也是“绿水青山就是金山银山”转化路径创新。

21世纪以来中国生态产品价值实现研究现状及发展趋势分析

生态产品价值实现是我国生态文明建设的重要抓手和突破口,对于加速推动“绿水青山”和“金山银山”双向转化具有重要作用。近年来,生态产品价值实现领域的相关研究与日俱增,但对该领域的研究进展、热点演变及发展趋势尚且认识不足。论文基于文献计量学分析软件Citespace和CNKI的核心及CSSCI数据库,对生态产品价值实现领域的相关文献进行计量可视化分析。结果显示:(1)我国生态产品价值实现领域相关研究在时间上呈现出明显的“萌芽起步—稳步发展—快速深化”三阶段特征。(2)国内生态产品价值实现领域的研究主要集中在“生态补偿”“生态文明”“价值实现”“生态旅游”“生态文明建设”等方面。(3)生态产品价值实现领域的研究热点在时间上呈现出明显的关键词跃迁,根据关键词突现时间,可分为概念探索期(2000—2009年)、生态文明开拓期(2009—2019年)、生态文明加速期(2019—2022年)三个阶段。

基于PES模型的区域生态补偿额度的测算研究——以江苏省为例

本文以县域作为研究单元,基于生态系统服务价值构建生态经济一体化的生态补偿(PES)模型,并对江苏省2010~2012年区域生态补偿额度进行测算研究。结果表明:江苏省区域生态、经济差异比较明显,苏南、苏中、苏北三大区域的经济发展水平依次降低,而生态系统服务价值依次升高;生态补偿额度的区域差异也比较明显,需支付生态补偿的主要位于苏南、苏中地区,其中南京市区生态补偿额度为-416亿元,常州市区、无锡市区、江阴市等五个区域生态补偿额度为-252^-101亿元,扬州市区、徐州市区等16个区域生态补偿额度为-101^-5亿元;而盐城市区、仪征市等20个区域的生态补偿额度为2~44亿元,苏北大部分地区生态补偿额度为48~91亿元。

Payments for Ecosystem Services: Market Mechanism or Diversified Modes?

Payment for ecosystem services is a concept of environmental protection and method of environmental management that has ＂purchasing conservation＂ as a major feature and has grown around the world since the 1990 s. It is stressed by the school of environmental economics that as a voluntary mechanism of exchange between ecological service providers and demanders, payments for ecosystem services can help to increase inputs and improve efficiency. Ecological economics holds that the ecological system and the complexity of the policy environment restrict the functional space of market mechanisms. The negative influence of the objective of giving priority to efficiency on environmental protection and social fairness cannot be neglected; therefore, the exchange mechanism is just one type of eco-compensation models. Here, we posit that payments for ecosystem services is a good tool for environmental protection and increases inputs and efficiency. Although payment for ecosystem services is confronted with challenges in application, it is playing an increasingly important role in the field of ecological services with a relatively high degree of commodification. Payments for ecosystem services can also increase the cost effectiveness of publicly managed environmental projects with the cooperation of other policy tools.

Payments for Grassland Ecosystem Services:A Comparison of Two Examples in China and Germany

目前,草地生态系统退化成为全球关注的问题。生态补偿机制(PES)是为了草地生态系统的恢复/保护,采取补贴或支付费用的方式,改变使用者资源利用方式的制度安排。科学、合理的生态补偿制度需要全面地考虑可能出现的风险和挑战:如环境效益的滞后性,不可预见的监督、管理成本和社会经济目标(足额补偿标准、公平)的实现。本文的目标是通过中德两国生态补偿措施的对比(选取中国内蒙古锡林郭勒盟,德国勃兰登堡州为案例区域进行研究),为今后中德两国的生态补偿理论和实践提供依据。研究着重以下四个方面进行分析:中德两国生态补偿的实施框架,目标人群,实施效果评估等。研究结果表明,由于缺乏有效的激励机制,农户作为最基层的执行单位和实施者,其参与的主动性不够,中德两国生态补偿措施实施的成效有待提高。基于研究结果,提出了今后生态补偿项目设计中,中国应侧重于项目实施的监控和管理制度;而德国应在空间目标规划和具体管理措施和方式等方面进行完善。

Computing payment for ecosystem services in watersheds: An analysis of the Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Diversion in China

Payment for ecosystem services （PES） has attracted considerable attention as an economic incentive for promoting natural resource management recently. As emphasis has been placed on using the incentive-based mechanism by the central government, rapid progress on PES research and practice has been achieved. However PES still faces many difficulties. A key issue is the lack of a fully-fledged theory and method to clearly define the design scope, accounting and feasibility of PES criteria. An improved watershed criteria model was developed in light of research on PES practices in China, investigations on the water source area for the Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Diversion and ecosystem services outflows theory. The basic principle of assessment is the direct and opportunity cost for ecological conservation and environmental protection in the water source area deduct nationally-financed PES and internal effect. Then the scope and the criteria methods were determined, and internal effect was put forward to define benefits brought from water source area. Finally, Shiyan City, which is the main water source area for the Project of Water Diversion, was analyzed by this model and its payment was calculated. The results showed that： （1） during 2003–2050, the total direct cost and opportunity cost would reach up to 262.70 billion and 256.33 billion Chinese Yuan （CNY, 2000 constant prices）, i.e., 50.61% and 49.38% of total cost, respectively; （2） Shiyan City would gain 0.23, 0.06 and 0.03 CNY/m3 in 2014–2020, 2021–2030, and 2031–2050, respectively.

Estimating farmers’stated willingness to accept pay for ecosystem services:case of Lake Naivasha watershed Payment for Ecosystem Services scheme-Kenya

Introduction:Lake Naivasha watershed is recognized for its contribution to Kenya’s national gross domestic product from the export of horticultural products.Commercial horticultural investment downstream depends mainly on the Lake’s water.The fresh water lake lacks surface outflow,and its recharge depends on river Malewa flowing from upper catchment in Aberdare ranges.However,unsustainable land use practices in the upper catchment has led to increasing sediment loading and pollution in river Malewa which affects water quality in the Lake downstream.Payment for Environmental Services(PES)scheme has been initiated as an alternative incentive approach to motivate upstream smallholder farmers adopt sustainable land use practices for conservation of watershed services.This paper analyzes willingness to accept pay(WTA)as proxy economic measure of environmental service(ES)value and determines socio-economic factors influencing farmers WTA for watershed conservation.We analyzed the WTA and characterized WTA underlying socio-economic determinants in two PES intervention sites in Kenya.Methods:The objective of this study was to estimate WTA and determine socio-economic factors influencing WTA.Semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 200 PES farmers through face-to-face interview.We applied contingent valuation(CV)and logistic regression for data analyses to elicit farmer’s WTA estimates to implement PES farm practices and determine socio-economic factors influencing WTA,respectively.Results:Results revealed over 90% of respondents were farmers and 60% had primary level of education.Average household farm size was 2.305 acres and family size was six members on average.We recorded a monthly marginal household increase in gross income from Kshs.6891.969(US$68.92)before PES to Kshs.11,011.48(US$110.12)with PES interventions.The estimated annual lowest and highest WTA for PES farm practices were at Kshs.8835(US$88.35)for grass strip and Kshs.21,847.500(US$218.48)for fallowing.Household socio-economic characteristics had significant influence on WTA among farmers.Conclusions:The study revealed heterogeneity in WTA estimates among PES implementing farmers.The WTA reflects opportunity cost to farmers.We recommend PES mechanism as a policy tool to internalize negative watershed externalities to provide ecosystem services.

Payments for watershed ecosystem services:mechanism,progress and challenges

Introduction:Payment for watershed ecosystem services(PWES),a policy instrument for compensating for the externality of watershed ecosystem/environmental services,has gained in policy importance in China over the past two decades.Many scholars and researchers have contributed to the conceptualization of this policy framework by developing operational mechanisms as well as compensation standards for PWES.Outcomes:This article reviews 27 PWES schemes piloted in China and in 10 other countries,with a particular emphasis on successful cases of land-use conversion programs,such as the Paddy Land to Dry Land Program and Sloping Land Conversion Program that have been implemented in China.Discussion:By comparing different cases,the authors attempt to answer the following questions:what were the ecological and institutional contexts in which these schemes were established and how did they work?What were the actual efficiencies and impacts of these piloted schemes?Which scheme worked better in certain ecological,socio-economic,and institutional contexts?Conclusion:Based on case studies,the authors draw the following conclusions about Chinese PWES:(1)to establish an acceptable standard for a PWES program,it is necessary to estimate the economic and social costs regarding the livelihoods of households;(2)multistakeholder negotiation mechanism for PWES,including intermediaries,such as the local government,NGO/NPOs,village committees,and user associations,should be used;(3)ES,non-market services,should acquire positive externalities to accomplish an optimal win–win pattern concerning both environmental goals and the livelihoods of local resource users.