Information on the workshop

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are increasingly considered as suitable economic instruments to maintain ecosystem functions and services by rewarding benefits through payments and markets. Today, numerous schemes - using different methodological approaches - are in place and lessons learned can be drawn. Schemes can be local to global, trying to bring private incentives in line with society’s interests. Political steering and regulation are often central to the success of PES.

The study on the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) launched at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (October 2010 in Nagoya/Japan) recommends to policy makers at various levels to make more use of PES, where appropriate. Following up on TEEB‘s suggestions, together with SCBD, IUW and UFZ, BfN organised a workshop that aimed at advancing the discussion on PES instruments and their implementation.

More specifically, the workshop provided a platform to share lessons learned from the application of PES, based on individual case studies. Thematic issues like equity/poverty alleviation impacts, cost-effectiveness, integrated policy planning and governance structures that are key to the success of PES were analysed, with the aim to further reveal the potential and constraints of PES instruments. More practically, the workshop identified subjects and crucial matters for targeted capacity building on PES, as a starting point for preparing capacity building material. Critical entry points to integrate the workshop’s results into national policy planning and design are the new Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the revision of the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs).

 Programme

 BfN Press Release