Ecosystems provide food and are responsible in various ways such as for recreational services, medicinal benefits, climate regulation, checking on erosion, controlling natural disasters, etc. Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is an agreement in which you must pay the providers or ecosystem if your activity directly or indirectly harms the ecosystem.
Payment for ecosystem services has been marked as a powerful tool that can transition to a sustainable society, triple bottom line benefits, and a green economy because it keeps an eye on the citizens who destroy the natural resources as it is not owned by anyone and is not in the long term. It also comes under the act of corporate social responsibility and is conducted by many companies.
Payments for Ecosystem Services Examples
A few examples of payments for ecosystem services are as follows:
1. Charging for carbon emissions resulting from degradation and deforestation is possible. It is recorded that Indonesia alone can make more than 2 billion dollars in a year from just the forest carbon market.
2. Southwestern China’s Sichuan Province invests $500,000 in two years to protect the freshwater source for a population of 2 billion people.
Also Read: How Much Carbon Dioxide Does a Tree Absorb Per Day?
Key Players in Payments for Ecosystem Services
Payments for ecosystem services comprise five major key players, and they are as follows:
- Acquire
- Card network
- Customer (known as the payer)
- Issuers
- Merchant (known as the payee)
Payments for Ecosystem Services Pros and Cons
Pros of payments for ecosystem services are:
- It offers a foundation for monitoring ecosystem services, highlighting areas where our precious mother nature requires care and attention.
- It helps you to invest your dollar in the ecosystem from where it is coming.
- Most important is that it keeps the natural resources clean and helps in reducing all kinds of pollution.
Cons of payments for ecosystem services are:
- Monitoring costs can go very high
- There is limited applicability for checking on the charges for disturbing the ecosystem.
- New externalities are being introduced.
- Citizens often misplace and misconstrue numerous responsibilities and rights.
There are many limitations to payments for ecosystem services and many new problems can also rise which are remained undiscovered till today, thus many innovations and changes are made in the approach so that it can overcome, so every individual will be able to maintain a healthy relationship with the mature.
Recommended: Green Credit Program shows Commitment to Green Growth via Climate Change Mitigation and Ecosystem Sustainability
