Using Economic Incentives for Conservation – what potential for developing International Payments for Ecosystem Services?

March 31, 2011 | 10:00 h - 12:00 h

Presentation: Using Economic Incentives for Conservation – what potential for developing International Payments for Ecosystem Services?

public seminar by David Huberman from the International Union for Conservation

of Nature (IUCN), Gland, Switzerland.

Talk of ‘ecosystem services’ has recently risen to the forefront of environmental discussions. Studied extensively in the recently completed Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), this increasingly popular topic offers an enhanced perspective on the many ways in which the natural environment sustains and fulfills human life. Some typical examples of ecosystem services are the provision of genetic resources for medicine and biotechnology, plant pollination, carbon sequestration, and soil formation. Biodiversity, which is an integral component of ecosystem functioning, plays a fundamental role in determining the delivery of these services.

By offering economic incentives for maintaining ecosystem services, payments for ecosystem services (PES) operates on the basis that market forces can offer an efficient and effective means of supporting sustainable development objectives. One of the key advantages of PES is its potential to tap additional sources of funding by creating new demand for ‘environmental’ goods and services. The idea of creating markets for ecosystems is hard for some to accept. Understandably so; it is indeed unusual to conceive of Mother Nature as a marketable asset.

David Huberman will talk about the chances and potential for developing International Payments for Ecosystem Services .

David Huberman is the coordinator for IUCN’s work on Greening the World Economy. His expertise lies mainly in the use of incentive-based mechanisms for conservation, and he has written and consulted widely on issues related to the design and implementation of payments for ecosystem services (PES). More recently, Huberman’s work has focussed on the issue of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). Before joining IUCN, David worked as a consultant to UNEP’s Economics and Trade Branch (UNEP ETB) in Geneva, developing the International Payments for Ecosystem Services (IPES) initiative. He was previously involved with the design of the Katoomba Group’s “Ecosystem Marketplace”, a web-based information portal on emerging markets for ecosystem services. David holds a Masters in Environmental Management from Duke University, as well as a Masters in Geography from the University of Geneva.