Cash for Green: Payments for Ecosystem Services in the Global South

Payments for ecosystem service (PES) initiatives, which provide financial incentives to conserve, represent on the most impactful, and controversial, environmental approaches of our time. While the theoretical model of PES promises to introduce market efficiency into environmental efforts, most initiatives have dramatically altered this model to fit local political, economic and cultural realities.

This talk will bring together scholars and practitioners of six prominent PES initiatives in the Global South to discuss how and why these alterations have occurred and how these changes have in turn impacts environmental and social outcomes.

Brazil ~ Bolsa Floresta, Amazon Sustainable Foundation (FAS)
Ecuador ~ Sociobosque Program, Ministry of the Environment of Ecuador
Mexico ~ National Payments for Environmental Services Programs, National Forestry Commission of Mexico
Guatemala ~ Incentives for Forestry or Agroforestry for Small Landowners, National Forest Institute of Guatemala
Vietnam ~ Vietnam Forest Protection and Development Fund
South Africa ~ Working for Water Program, Department of Environmental Affairs, Republic of South Africa