Forests, payments for environmental services and livelihoods

Payment for Environmental Services (PES) schemes, where the providers of environmental services receive payments for the adoption of land uses and practices that support those services, are relatively recent in the developing world. There is strong interest in PES schemes because of their potential to mobilize new resources for conservation and achieve development outcomes. This interest has increased with recent discussions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on a mechanism for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD).1 REDD would require the provision of fi nancial incentivesto developing countries to conserve their forests, and could possibly include payments to people with rights over the forests in question. These developments have heightened interest in learning from past and present PES schemes, matched by concerns about their impacts-and those of REDD-on the rights and livelihoods of local resource users and managers.