The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has engaged in pioneering development of mechanisms that reward good stewardship of natural resources, including the structuring of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes. For the GEF, the concept of PES includes a variety of arrangements through which the beneficiaries of ecosystem services compensate those providing the services. This publication summarizes the investments of GEF in PES from a variety of institutional, thematic and geographic perspectives. The publication also highlights some of the trends and opportunities for the establishment of PES schemes to generate global environmental benefits. Investments have ranged from global projects aiming at building the human and institutional capacity necessary to establish PES schemes, to stand-alone agreements between buyers and sellers in watersheds of high biodiversity value.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has engaged in pioneering development of mechanisms that reward good stewardship of natural resources, including the structuring of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes. For the GEF, the concept of PES includes a variety of arrangements through which the beneficiaries of ecosystem services compensate those providing the services. This publication summarizes the investments of GEF in PES from a variety of institutional, thematic and geographic perspectives. The publication also highlights some of the trends and opportunities for the establishment of PES schemes to generate global environmental benefits. Investments have ranged from global projects aiming at building the human and institutional capacity necessary to establish PES schemes, to stand-alone agreements between buyers and sellers in watersheds of high biodiversity value.
