Report highlights value of forests
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E-mail China.org.cn, December 13, 2013
The majority of PES schemes are often innovative and unique to their locality, thus they do not fit easily into subsidy or tax programmes, such as the EU Common Agricultural Policy (EU CAP), according to the report.
However, the report finds PES projects are particularly effective tools for rural development, especially where they succeed in bringing together public and private partners. Financing through a PES scheme, for example, secures long-term commitments to provide ecosystem services, which could otherwise be threatened, especially in an economic recession.
"We have long understood the importance of the key ecosystem services that our forests provide but we have been slow to realize that these things could be worth paying for, especially when the costs and responsibility for stewardship of the forest are not in the public sector," said Paola Deda, Chief UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section.
Jan Dusik, Director of UNEP's Regional Office for Europe, said "With payment for ecosystem services, the fact that the money goes directly to the provider helps ensure that the service will continue to be supplied. This payment can be used to strengthen the particular ecosystem against pressures that may affect it, including climate change."
PES has come to prominence in the past decade as a tool to reduce the loss of ecosystem services and biodiversity. There are 14 cases of best practices presented in the report, which also covers some potential drawbacks that could occur if good policies are not in place. The report uses the lessons learned to provide guidance on criteria and conditions for successful PES schemes and their future in preserving and maintaining precious forest resources.
This publication will be launched during a side event at Metsä2013, the joint meeting of the ECE Committee on Forests and the Forests industry and the FAO European Forestry Commission, which takes place from 9 to 13 December 2013 in Rovaniemi, Finland. This meeting is held in conjunction with the second European Forest Week, launched and promoted by 15 partner organisations to celebrate forests and their contribution to a greener society throughout Europe.
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