Author(s)

Pingan Xiang^1,2*, Weiqi Xiang³, Yu Lu¹

¹School of Business, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China.
²Key Laboratory of Rural Ecosystem Health in Dongting Lake Area of Hunan Province, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China.
³Canvard College, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, China.

Clarifying the necessary conditions for the emergence of payments for ecosystem services (PES) and the situational variables that affect PES is the basis for their interpretation, prediction, and selection. This article proposes an analytical framework for the emergence of PES and argues that the key to determining whether PES can occur and whether a selected PES program is appropriate is to evaluate the net gain. When payers anticipate that a PES program will provide a satisfactory number of ES and a net gain over the opportunity cost and will cover all costs, it is assumed that the program will be implemented. When it is difficult to accurately evaluate the net gain of PES, the situational variables that affect the costs and benefits need to be examined. The group characteristics, ES characteristics, spatial and temporal contacts between the suppliers and demanders, correlation with private goods and additionality are important situational variables that affect the emergence and choice of PES.

Payments for Ecosystem Services, Necessary Conditions, Situational Variable, Decision Making

Xiang, P. , Xiang, W. and Lu, Y. (2021) Necessary Conditions and Situational Variables of Payments for Ecosystem Services. Open Journal of Ecology, 11, 1-23. doi: 10.4236/oje.2021.111001.