CIFOR scientist Jacob Phelps explains some challenges of setting up Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes, particularly in the context of landscape-level planning. He and his co-authors argue that designing PES schemes is complicated by external stressors, such as fires, sea level rise, hurricanes and invasive species, which need to be taken into account in PES design. These types of external stressors may interfere with ecosystem service provision, even without being direct or obvious parts of the ecosystems targeted for PES. Phelps argues that the interference of external stressors, and the upstream actors that may be responsible for them, raises questions about how to clearly define parameters of a PES schemes, identify PES beneficiaries and service providers, and how to distribute responsibility and liability. Taking external stressors and actors into consideration may present important challenges for PES scheme. Watch the full video above.
Read the full paper here
also see Blog: External stressors: Overlooked threats to PES schemes
