Synthesis and lessons on ecological, economic, social and governance propositions

Awareness of the environmental crisis in many parts of the world has raised interest in a simple idea: farmers and other land users can change their decisions and behaviour in ways beneficial to ‘downstream’ stakeholders if their income is based not only on products they sell, but also on the services they provide or allow Nature to provide. This idea is popularly known as payments for environmental services or payments for ecosystem services, both abbreviated as PES (for detail in the relationship between these terms, see Chapter 1)