The Heredia Declaration on Payments for Ecosystem Services
At the Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) Conference and Atelier: from local to global, co-organized by the GIEE and the CINPE, during March of 2007, participants generated the Heredia Declaration on Payments for Ecosystem Services (HD PES). This document was developed based on a thorough review and synthesis of information both before and during the atelier in Heredia, Costa Rica, with recommendation of principles that must be taken into account in development and implementation of PES systems. PES are not incentives, nor subsidies, but rather are payments for services produced by ecosystems. The HD PES is directed at a broad audience: from academia to governments, as well as stakeholders involved in PES programs.
HD PES defines ten principles required for the second stage. Among these principles, “measurement” is essential because it is important to generate a PES inventory. It is important to consider a “bundle of services” since many of the characteristics of the ecosystems are intrinsically connected. Another important principle is “scale-matching”, matching the solution to the level of the problem. There are several problems at the local, national and global levels where institutions must be calibrated to satisfy these three demand stages mentioned above. Conserving and recovering forest areas, through Payment for Ecosystem Services programs, is one of the key points of the HD PES .
Furthermore, the declaration recommends taking into account “education and policy”, “public participation”, “property rights”, “sustainable financing”, “adaptive management”, “distribution (equity) problems” and “policy coherence”.
