Payments for Water Ecosystem Services in Latin America: Evidence from Reported Experience

The paper examines 38 PES schemes in Latin America, finding that most are local initiatives driven by NGOs and focused on improving extractive water supply through forest conservation. It highlights a significant disconnect between payment levels and market-based data, noting that payments are typically decided top-down and based on inputs (actions) rather than verified ecosystem outputs.

• The analysis reveals a financial discrepancy where the average income received by service sellers is more than 60% higher than the average payment made by service buyers, suggesting that external funding from NGOs or intermediaries often subsidizes these schemes.
• Deforestation and land cover loss are the primary environmental threats driving the establishment of PES schemes, appearing in 77.3% of cases, followed by water pollution (31.8%) and water over use (22.7%).
• Most PES programs are implemented at a local scale (73.7%) and are predominantly promoted by NGOs (nearly 40%), municipalities (23.7%), and government agencies (18.4%).
• Payments in these schemes are determined by the specific actions undertaken by sellers (input-related) rather than the actual results on the ecosystem service (output-related), which challenges the PES principle of conditionality.
• The majority of PES payment levels are decided through top-down processes (55.6% of cases with available information), with less than 20% resulting from direct negotiation between stakeholders.
• There is a critical lack of evidence-based data used for program design; only 23.7% of the analyzed programs reported conducting a willingness to pay (WTP) study prior to implementation, and no opportunity cost studies were reported.

APA

Martin-Ortega, J., Ojea, E., & Roux, C. (2012). Payments for Water Ecosystem Services in Latin America: Evidence from Reported Experience. Basque Centre for Climate Change. https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/201210260256272103710631.pdf

Chicago

Martin-Ortega, Julia, Elena Ojea, and Camille Roux. Payments for Water Ecosystem Services in Latin America: Evidence from Reported Experience. Basque Centre for Climate Change, 2012. https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/201210260256272103710631.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Martin-Ortega |first1=Julia |last2=Ojea |first2=Elena |last3=Roux |first3=Camille |title=Payments for Water Ecosystem Services in Latin America: Evidence from Reported Experience |publisher=Basque Centre for Climate Change |date=October 2012 |url=https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/201210260256272103710631.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{martinortega2012payments, author = {Martin-Ortega, Julia and Ojea, Elena and Roux, Camille}, title = {{Payments for Water Ecosystem Services in Latin America: Evidence from Reported Experience}}, institution = {Basque Centre for Climate Change}, year = {2012}, month = oct, url = {https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/201210260256272103710631.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }