Payments for ecosystem services

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Payments for ecosystem services (Engl. Payments for Ecosystem Services ( PES )) are an environmentally economical to provide incentives for the continuous provision of instrument ecosystem services to provide. For example, farmers or landowners (sellers) receive compensation payments from users or profiteers (buyers) of these services.

Assignment

PES can be assigned to neoclassical theory , a paradigm in economics . In this theory, PES can be used in the event of a market error, the cause of which is either that the prices in the markets send wrong signals about the scarcity of goods or that there is no market for a good. To solve this problem, one approach to this theory is the PES. The aim is to assign a value / price to various services that nature provides, thus creating a market or a reasonable price.

functionality

PES are transactions made on a voluntary basis between at least one “seller” and at least one “buyer” for the permanent provision of precisely defined ecosystem services.

In this context, government funding programs can support a market-based PES mechanism for the preservation of ecosystems and their services. So far, services in the following areas have mostly been rewarded:

Buyers can be the actual users of an ecosystem service, i.e. private persons, companies or municipalities, but also governmental, non-governmental or international organizations that act in the interests of end users.

The sellers of the ecosystem services provided are mostly farmers or other landowners . The state is also often a landowner. PES programs can therefore also apply to state areas, e.g. B. refer to protected areas.

meaning

PES contracts are primarily an instrument for maintaining ecosystem services. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment shows that around 60% of the environmental services examined degrade faster than they can be restored. The PES can set financial incentives for resource-saving agriculture as well as other "sustainable" use and nature conservation activities. If the conservation of biological diversity is a direct consequence or a subsidiary consequence of promoting the provision of ecosystem services, PES serve the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

But it can also have positive socio-economic effects. For example, poor landowners on the upper reaches of a river can be paid by richer people below - for example in larger cities - to align their land management with flood protection goals. If the payments exceed the opportunity costs of the upstream residents, a contribution to poverty reduction can be made. However, positive effects are not guaranteed. The FAO recommends examining projects to reward ecosystem services in advance for possible negative side effects for marginalized groups.

Examples of rewards for ecosystem services

The Cumes River is the main source of drinking water in the city of Jesus de Otoro ( Intibucá Department in Honduras). Local coffee producers have dumped processing by-products into the river, contributing to water pollution and affecting water users downstream. To solve this problem, the local water and wastewater administration has developed a compensation program from which coffee producers on the upper reaches of the river as well as the residents downriver can benefit. Accordingly, downriver villagers should pay approximately $ 0.06 per household a month to the administration, who will distribute the money to coffee producers upriver and farmers downstream on condition that they take measures to prevent water pollution. These measures have encouraged the construction of irrigation ditches, the use of organic fertilizers and adequate residue treatment.

In the town of Jamestown on the island of Rhode, USA, farmers usually mow the hay twice a year. However, this activity destroys the habitat of the local meadow breeders. Economists from the University of Rhode Island and EcoAssets Markets Inc. have asked Jamestown residents for financial assistance to help save the meadow birds. Contributions varied between $ 5 and $ 200 per person. The grand total of $ 9,800 was enough to offset the annual cost of reduced haymaking on three Jamestown farms. This gives the birds enough time to nest so that their population is preserved. In this case, both the farmers, who now only have to mow once a year, and the biodiversity benefit.

In October 2009 the first international climate forest initiated by the non-profit organization “Tourism cares” was established in Schuenhagen (Germany) . This program is supported by the “Forest Share” campaign, which offers tourists in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the opportunity to buy forest shares and thus make their vacation CO 2 -neutral . One share has a purchase price of € 10 and enables trees to be planted in an area of ​​10 m 2 . With regular public tree planting, tourists can also personally plant the trees they have donated. You cannot acquire shareholder rights through the forest shares, because it is only a symbolic contribution to improving the climate.

In the German state of Baden-Württemberg, compensatory payments for water protection are paid to farmers from the water abstraction fee.

criticism

One point of criticism of this process is that there is no reasonable application standard for the process. It cannot be determined objectively how much z. B. a wetland or a rainforest are worth and what price can be assigned to the services that nature provides. There is also an ethical problem, as the question arises of how much the PES are worth to a society.

See also

literature

  • Scott J. Callan, Janet M. Thomas: Environmental Economics and Management. Thompson South-Western, Mason, OH 2007.
  • Nathaniel O Keohane, Sheila M. Olmstead: Markets and the Environment. Island Press, Washington, DC 2007.
  • Frank A. Ward: Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. Prentice-Hall, 2006.
  • A. Schäfer: Biodiversity and ecosystem services under the conditions of climate change - monetization of the ecosystem services of moors. Biodiversity and Climate Change: Proceedings with the contributions from the 2nd BfN Research Conference "Biological Diversity and Climate Change" from March 2-3, 2010 in Bonn.
  • Burkhard Schweppe-Kraft: Ecosystem Services: An Approach to the Economic Assessment of Nature. In: Local Land and Soil News: The Bulletin of the European Land and Soil Alliance. 34/35, 2010, pp. 11-14.
  • K. Schröder, S. Rajmis, J. Barkmann, R. Marggraf: Economic appreciation of ecosystem services and biodiversity in forest ecosystems. Meeting point Biodiversity IX: current research within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity presented at a scientific expert conference at the International Nature Conservation Academy Insel Vilm from 24. – 28. August 2009. 2010.
  • Payments for Ecosystem Services - From Local to Global. Themed edition of the journal Ecological Economics. Volume 69, Issue 11, pp. 2060-2150. (Sciencedirect)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mahnkopf-Praprotnik, Silke (2020): Course "Sustainable Economics" at the University of Economics and Law, lecture notes.
  2. ^ Sven Wunder: Payments for environmental services: Some nuts and bolds. (= CIFOR Occasional Paper. No. 42). Center for International Forestry Research, 2010. (cifor.org)
  3. ^ CIFOR: Payment for environmental services. What are “payments for environmental services”? (cifor.org)
  4. ↑ UNEP. 2008.
  5. ↑ a b S. Engel, S. Pagiola, S. Wunder: Designing payments for environmental services in theory and practice: An overview of the issues. In: Ecological economics. 65, 2008, pp. 663-674.
  6. ^ World Resources Institute: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Ecosystems and Human Well-Being. Synthesis. ( Memento of November 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 15.6 MB). 2008.
  7. ^ FAO: The state of food and agriculture: Paying farmers for environmental services. 2007.
  8. ↑ Markets for Watershed Services -Country Profile Ina Porras and Nanete Neves - 2006 Honduras - Jesus de Otoro (PASOLAC initiative) (PDF; 57 kB)
  9. ^ University of Rhode Island: URI economists protect habitat for nesting birds
  10. ↑ Forest share