Vital Graphics on Payment for Ecosystem Services

GRID-Arendal launches a Vital Graphics: Payment for Ecosystem Services. Get the PDF and E-book here: http://www.grida.no/publications/vg/pes/

"Human life and activity depend directly on the health of ecosystems and the services they provide. For urban dwellers
these services may seem remote, often taken for granted in day-to-day life. For rural populations, ecosystem services
yield more visible benefits while for the poor in rural areas they often represent a vital lifeline for subsistence. In fact, ecosystem
services form the basis of all life on planet Earth and are fundamental to human well-being.
In this publication we look at the 23 ecosystem services as described by the World Resources Institute (2011) and the
United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA,2005). Five specific market segments relating to Payment for
Ecosystem Services (PES) – carbon sequestration, watershed management, biodiversity, landscape beauty, and bundled
services – are illustrated, drawing on case studies, graphics and photographs. An additional section explores the role PES
could play in alleviating poverty."

Objectives of the Vital Graphics on Payment of Ecosystem Services

■This publication highlights the concept and selected market segments relating to payments for ecosystem services. It emphasises the role natural
capital can play in both environmental conservation and in poverty alleviation, and highlights the potential benefits of ecosystem-based economic
development in an accessible, non-technical manner.

■Through its highly visual communications approach, GRID-Arendal aims to improve the understanding of PES and contribute to a general shift
towards greener forms of economic development.

■GRID-Arendal hopes this publication will be helpful for policy advisors and civil society representatives (non-government and community-based
organisations, local business) working with community-based projects providing training in relation to ecosystem services.