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Payments for ecosystem services and poverty reduction: concepts, issues, and empirical perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2008

ERWIN H. BULTE
Affiliation:
Development Economics Group, Wageningen University, and Department of Economics, Tilburg University, Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, Netherlands. Email: [email protected]
LESLIE LIPPER
Affiliation:
Agricultural and Development Economics Division, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy. Email: [email protected]
RANDY STRINGER
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia. Email: [email protected]
DAVID ZILBERMAN
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of California at Berkeley, USA, and the Giannini Foundation. Email: [email protected]

Extract

Paying for the provision of environmental services is a recent policy innovation attracting much attention in both developed and developing countries. This innovation, referred to as ‘payments for ecosystem services’ (when the emphasis is on enhancing ‘nature’ services) or ‘payments for environmental services’ (when amenities provided by the built environment are also included) is referred to here as PES. PES programs aim to harness market forces to obtain more efficient environmental outcomes. Since so many opportunities for PES programs could involve farmers in poor regions, international aid agencies and private donors, looking for a double dividend, increasingly consider using PES programs as a potential way of meeting both social and environmental objectives.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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