Payments For Ecosystem Services Research Articles

Application of the protective action decision model in land-use scenario analysis for disaster risk reduction

Land-Change Science is an emergent field that seeks to enhance understanding of the negative impacts of land use and cover change (LUCC) in order to expedite the development of sustainable resource management and sustainable land use policies. Dr Kikuko Shoyama is a research fellow at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience, Japan, who is conducting research on Land-Use Functions. In her latest project, she is focusing on ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) and she and the team will explore how to utilise Eco-DRR as one of the Land-Use Functions and look at the type of payment system that is needed to support community activities. This work on designing so-called payment for ecosystem services (PES) involves recognising and valuing the variety of services that ecosystems provide to society. Through PES, an awareness and appreciation of the value of ecosystems can be cultivated. In her work on Eco-DRR, Shoyama is investigating the effects of land use policies on disaster reduction, with a focus on flood risk information and the impact of policies that promote or inhibit protective behaviour related to land use. The work involves the use of a hierarchical linear model that extracts the factors affecting protective behaviours by taking into account land ownership and community characteristics. The factors can then be introduced into a land use model and analyses are performed. Ultimately, Shoyama hopes her work will lead to recommendations that will inform a newer land use strategy and social transformative change.

Herdsmen's willingness to accept compensation for grazing ban compliance: Empirical evidence from pastoral China

Payment for ecosystem services (PES) has gained popularity in balancing environmental degradation and economic development. However, many of its key features, particularly price differentiation, are often not considered during design and implementation. Taking China's grassland ecological compensation policy as an example, we empirically examine herders' willingness to accept (WTA) compensation for grazing ban compliance, based on a survey dataset of 352 herder households in the pastoral areas of the Gansu and Qinghai provinces in China. A double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation design was adopted, with interval regression and bivariate probit models adjusted for potential bid anchoring utilized to obtain reliable WTA estimates. The results show that the mean WTA ranges between CNY 193 and CNY 274 per mu, which is significantly higher than the present universal compensation level. Herdsmen's WTA is significantly and positively associated with household size and having migrant worker family members, while it is negatively influenced by age, environmental perception , household income, and sandy soil. We suggest that the basic institution of China's grassland ecological compensation policy (GECP) should be reformed to allow price differentiation, bottom-up participation, and performance-dependent payments. • We examine herdsmen's willingness to accept (WTA) for grazing ban compliance. • A double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation design is adopted. • Estimated WTA is substantially larger than the current compensation level. • WTA decreases with herdsmen's environmental perception. • Price differentiation and bottom-up participation should be allowed.

Negotiating over payments for wetland ecosystem services

AbstractThis paper proposes and examines the economic efficiency of novel payment schemes for the provision of wetland ecosystem services. By definition, payments for ecosystem services typically involve voluntary transactions between the beneficiaries and providers of ecosystem services. We develop a theoretical model that addresses the role that a third party—such as a social planner or government agency, acting in the interest of society—can play to ensure the optimal provision of ecosystem services. We consider different regulatory frameworks combining payments for ecosystem services with a subsidy that the third party grants to the beneficiaries or providers of ecosystem services. We compare the outcomes of the different policy mixes characterized by different levels of involvement of the third party. Of particular interest is the comparison between the outcomes of payments for ecosystem services subsidy arrangements in which the third party plays decentralized and centralized roles. Our results show, among other things, that the third party is indifferent between a negotiated payment for ecosystem services combined with a subsidy scheme and the constrained first‐best payments for ecosystem services subsidy scheme, in the presence of transaction and administrative costs. However, beneficiaries and providers may have conflicting preferences over the two payments for ecosystem services schemes.

Role of abiotic factors in enhancing the capacity of mangroves in reducing ocean acidification.

The present study investigated the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels in nature and the carbon sequestration potential of dominant mangrove species for reducing the toxic effects of ocean acidification. The study was conducted on the east coast of Odisha, in the western Bay of Bengal. To determine the effect of these ambient parameters on the absorption of carbon dioxide by the mangroves, water temperature, salinity, pH levels of seawater along with soil texture and pH, salinity expressed in electrical conductivity, compactness expressed in bulk density, and soil organic carbon were simultaneously monitored. The aboveground biomass and carbon of the selected species were studied for 2 consecutive years at 10 designated stations. The total carbon calculated for the study area varied from 242.50 ± 49.00 to 1321.29 ± 445.52 tons with a mean of 626.68 ± 174.81 tons for Bhitarkanika and Mahanadi mangrove chunks. This is equivalent to 2299.92 ± 641.55 tons of CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere. A total of 27 equations were selected as the best fit models for the study area. The equations between mangrove biomass and carbon along with aquatic and edaphic factors governing the pH of water and soil strongly support the positive influence of mangrove photosynthetic activity in shifting the equilibrium toward alkalinity. This calls for conservation of mangrove ecosystem to minimize the pace of acidification of estuarine water. The results indicate that Excoecariaagallocha and Avicennia marina as are the most capable species for combatting maximum carbon dioxide toxicity from the atmosphere; which will be helpful in REDD + programs and carbon-based payments for ecosystem services (PES).

Animal and plant images in corporate marketing communications are ecosystem services that should be paid for

Animal and plant images are omnipresent in corporate marketing communications. In this short communication, we posit that this is an ecosystem service belonging to the “spiritual, symbolic and other interactions with natural environment,” irrespective of the beneficiary’s presence in the environmental setting. Using a case study of a large Polish producer of building materials that features a white stork in its marketing (advertising, packaging etc.), and a survey of construction professionals, we suggest that this company should actually pay back to white stork conservation. Such a scheme could follow the logic of payments for ecosystem services, and it is in line with previous calls for various species or wildlife royalties. We discuss the context of creating such payments, along with their key advantages and challenges. Ultimately, similar arguments could be made about the use of natural imagery in general.

Integrated assessment of a payment for ecosystem services program in China from the effectiveness, efficiency and equity perspective

Despite growing interest in understanding the outcomes of payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs, there are few systematic and quantitative studies, particularly integrated assessments that consider ecological effectiveness, economic efficiency, and social equity (3E). By integrating remote sensing images, geographic information, household survey data, and policy documents, we present a demonstration from China between 2000 and 2015, which implemented PES programs extensively. At the forest patch level, the Ecological Welfare Forest Program (EWFP) increased forest coverage by 1.35%–2.03%. Furthermore, the EWFP respectively added 68.23–72.55 ton ha−1, 1.87–2.09 ton ha−1, 23.39–35.81 ton ha−1, and 10.12–11.11 MWh ha−1 of water conservation, soil retention, flood regulation, and local climate regulation services. Our results were consistent using different impact evaluation methods. However, forest recovery was achieved at high economic cost, with one hectare increase of forest cover costing 211,000–319,000 USD. EWFP participants experienced lower increases in human well-being and more unequal income distribution compared to non-participants, largely due to the rapid and disproportional increase of business income such as nature-based tourism. We provide recommendations to improve the multidimensional outcomes of PES programs in our study area and beyond. Although our study is an integrated assessment of one PES program, the 3E perspective and methodology may also apply to other conservation policies.

The value of shifting cultivation for biodiversity in Northeast India

AbstractAimShifting cultivation is a widespread land‐use in many tropical countries that also harbours significant levels of biodiversity. Increasing frequency of cultivation cycles and expansion into old‐growth forests have intensified the impacts of shifting cultivation on biodiversity and carbon sequestration. We assessed how bird diversity responds to shifting cultivation and the potential for co‐benefits for both biodiversity and carbon in such landscapes to inform carbon‐based payments for ecosystem service (PES) schemes.LocationNagaland, Northeast India.MethodsWe surveyed above‐ground carbon stocks and bird communities across various stages of a shifting cultivation system and old‐growth forest using composite carbon sampling plots and repeated point counts directly overlaying the carbon plots in both summer and winter. We assessed species diversity using species accumulation and rarefaction curves based on Hill numbers. We fitted a linear mixed‐effect model to assess the relationship between species richness and fallow age. We also examined possible co‐benefits between carbon and biodiversity from fallow regeneration in terms of relative community similarity to old‐growth forest across carbons stocks.ResultsFarmland and secondary forests regenerating on fallowed land had similar bird species richness to old‐growth forests in summer and relatively higher species richness in winter. Within regenerating fallows, we did not find any strong evidence that fallow age influenced bird species richness. Bird community resemblance to old‐growth forest increased with secondary forest maturity, correlating also with carbon stocks in summer. However, bird community assemblage did not show a strong association with habitat types and carbon stocks during winter.Main conclusionsThis study underscores the important role of traditional non‐intensive shifting cultivation in providing refuges for biodiversity within heterogeneous habitat mosaics. Effectively managing these landscapes is crucial for both biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration in the subtropics.

Mangroves Cover Change Trajectories 1984-2020: The Gradual Decrease of Mangroves in Colombia

Awareness of the significant benefits of mangroves to human lives and their role in regulating environmental processes has increased during the recent decades. Yet there remains significant uncertainty about the mangrove change trajectories and the drivers of change at national scales. In Colombia, the absence of historical satellite imagery and persistent cloud cover have impeded the accurate mapping of mangrove extent and change over time. We create a temporally consistent Landsat-derived dataset using the LandTrendr algorithm to track the historical land cover and mangrove conversion from 1984-2020 across Colombia. Over this period, mangrove extent decreased by ~48.000ha (14% of total mangrove area). We find a gradual reduction of mangrove extent along the Pacific coast since 2004, whereas, in the Caribbean, mangrove cover declined around during 1984-1988 and also after 2012. Our time-series analysis matches with drivers of mangrove change at three local sites. For instance, hydroclimatic events, dredging activities, and high sediment loads transported by the rivers have collectively improved mangrove recovery in some sites. In contrast, human activities pressure linked to agricultural expansion and road construction have degraded mangroves. The transition from dense mangrove to other vegetation types is the most significant conversion affecting mangrove cover in Colombia, impacting an area of 38,469 ± 2,829 ha. We anticipate increased mangrove loss, especially along the Pacific coast, resulting from intensified human activity. Prioritization of conservation areas is needed to support local institutions, maintain currently protected areas, and develop strategies (e.g. payment for ecosystem services) to preserve one of the most pristine mangrove regions in the Western Hemisphere.

Payment for ecosystem services in Peru: Assessing the socio-ecological dimension of water services in the upper Santa River basin

Increasing pressures on ecosystems in the Latin American region, as well as the adoption of multilateral conservation commitments, have led to the implementation of instruments that are economic in nature but oriented towards the recovery, conservation, and functioning of ecosystems such as Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES). In the Peruvian Andes, hydro-climatic factors and land-use changes are affecting the capacity of the ecosystems of the glaciated Cordillera Blanca to provide water services, in terms of both quality and quantity, to the main users of the Santa River basin. Thus, this study analyses how the socio-ecological interactions affect, and are affected by, the planned introduction of water-related PES in the Quillcay sub-basin, the most populated sub-basins along the Santa River basin. We use a conceptual model based on the current evolution of the water metabolism approach to integrate into a common language of analysis the multiple dimensions of water: water as an ecological fund, as a service, and as a political asset. To explore the interface of these three domains of analysis we rely on a mixed-method data collection: primary data collection through a stakeholder survey and interviews and a review of information from secondary sources. The result of our case study shows that both the ecological dimension and the social dimension affect on the PES project and vice versa. These complex interactions could result in the design of a mechanism in which not all stakeholders benefit equally. This raises the need to recognise the multidimensional nature of water in the design and implementation of policies, and the importance of identifying processes and barriers which affect the success of these policies without making invisible the direct effect they also have on social-ecological systems.

Management of Timber and Nontimber Forest Products: Evidence from a Framed Field Experiment in Benin, West Africa

Across sub-Saharan Africa, rapid deforestation threatens the economic and environmental benefits forests provide to communities and individuals. These losses are especially salient when forest users benefit from multiple forest products and not just timber resources. Using a common-pool resource (CPR) game in rural Benin framed around a threatened species, Afzelia africana, this paper tests how different payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs may induce conservation behavior among individuals who harvest multiple forest products (e.g., timber and leaves). PES treatments vary along two dimensions: the level of the payment and how the payment is divided among group members. We find evidence that all implemented PES treatments reduce the harvest of timber; however, a high PES payment evenly divided among group members also significantly reduced the harvest of leaves. Our findings suggest that a single-product PES focused only on whole trees might not be effective for multipurpose species.

Trends in Research on Forest Ecosystem Services in the Most Recent 20 Years: A Bibliometric Analysis

Forest resources and the flow of ecosystem services they provide play a key role in supporting national and regional economies, improving people’s lives, protecting biodiversity, and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Based on the ISI (Institute of Scientific Information) Web of Science (WoS) database, we used a bibliometric approach to analyze the research status, evolution process, and hotspots of forest ecosystem services (FES) from a compilation of 8797 documents published between 1997 and 2019. The results indicated that: (1) research on forest ecosystem services has developed rapidly over the past 23 years. Institutions in the United States and other developed countries have significantly contributed to undertake research on the topic of ecosystem services. (2) The 11 hotpot key focus areas of completed research were payments for ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, forest governance, ecosystem approaches, climate change, nitrogen, ecosystem management, pollination, cities, ecological restoration, and policy. (3) The trade-off relationships among ecosystem services, ecosystem resilience and stability have become the research frontier in this field. (4) Future research on FES will likely focus on the formation and evolution mechanism of ecosystem services; the interaction, feedback and intrinsic connections of ecosystem services at different scales; analysis of the trade-offs and synergies; unified evaluation standards, evaluation systems, model construction and scenario analyses; in-depth studies of the internal correlation mechanism between forest ecosystem services and human wellbeing; and realization of cross-disciplinary and multi-method integration in sustainable forest management and decision-making.

Mechanism of payments for hydrological ecosystem services in the Watershed of the Piray Miní stream

To promote the conservation and forest hydrological restoration of the ecosystems located in the watershed of the Piray Miní stream, which supplies water to Eldorado, economic compensation mechanisms are required for the owners of the properties that provide environmental services to society. The objective of this work is to analyze the situation of environmental and socioeconomic factors, related to the watershed of the Piray Miní stream, and to propose a scheme of payments for hydrological ecosystem services for the conservation and restoration of ecosystems. Regarding the materials and methodologies, background analyzes and interviews were carried out; and their own reflections on the subject. The survey of reference watersheds was carried out with the Geographic Information System and land inspections were carried out. As results, environmental, social and economic factors and compensation mechanisms for ecosystem services in force in Argentina were characterized; proposing the assessment and implementation of a compensation scheme for ecosystem services for the watershed of the Piray Miní stream. It is concluded that it is very necessary to implement the proposals to achieve the conservation of the properties that provide hydrological ecosystem services.

Payment for ecosystem services and the practices of environmental fieldworkers in policy implementation: The case of Bolsa Floresta in the Brazilian Amazon

In payment for ecosystem services (PES) models, participants receive payments for conditionally securing the provision of ecosystem services. Nevertheless, various constraints and complex local contexts, common in real-world PES schemes, impede a perfect implementation of the model. I examine how fieldworkers implement PES given financial and monitoring constraints, using the case of the Bolsa Floresta program in the Brazilian Amazon, a policy instrument that pays 50 Brazilian Reais to participating families if they do not deforest primary forests. Building on in-depth interviews and participant observation, I argue that fieldworkers’ actions reveal deviations between PES theory and practice. They use their discretion at the local level to (1) adopt discursive practices that underemphasize the economic component of Bolsa Floresta and complement it with a pedagogical element, and (2) adopt trust-building practices based on organizational routines and boundary-making vis-à-vis command-and-control authorities. This deviation from PES theory implies that different policy instruments require different levels of trust depending on their coerciveness. My fieldworker-oriented approach complements PES scholarship by tying environmental fieldworkers’ routines and practices at the implementation level to strategies to address some common limitations of PES schemes.

The Premium of Hilsa Sanctuary: A Socio-Economic and Ecological Evaluation from the Meghna Estuary, Bangladesh

Sanctuaries are widely regarded as a protected area where fishing has been placed under some restrictions by local, state, regional and national authorities for the conservation and management of fisheries resources. These sanctuaries have a broad array of positive and negative social, economic, cultural and political impacts on fishers. This study aims to analyze the socio-economic and ecological benefits and costs of hilsa sanctuaries to protect single most important hilsa species using Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA). Under the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act of 1950, six sites along the Padma, Meghna, Tetulia, and Andharmanik rivers have been designated as hilsa sanctuaries. Findings of the current study revealed that most fishers perceived production of hilsa and other species were increased as a direct consequences of sanctuaries establishment. However, a considerable proportion of hilsa fishermen was found to have low socioeconomic capital, as measured by monthly income, housing circumstances and asset ownership. During the restricted fishing season in the sanctuaries, these households are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. The government’s compensation scheme is a good example of payment of ecosystem services in an open water fishery; however, this scheme does not include all the affected fishers. It is found that hilsa sanctuaries lead to income loss of the poor fishers which is insufficiently compensated by government support program. To compensate income loss, fishers resort illegal fishing which undermine the success of sanctuary. If the sanctuaries are to function effectively, affecting fishers must be addressed by offering enough compensation schemes so that fishers are able to support their families. Moreover, some fishers believed that a co-management approach involving fishers and government is the possible best management option for operating sanctuaries in a sustainable way.

Considering Farmers’ Heterogeneity to Payment Ecosystem Services Participation: A Choice Experiment and Agent-Based Model Analysis in Xin’an River Basin, China

The concept of watershed ecological compensation is one payment for ecosystem services (PES) program that incentivizes stakeholders undertake environmental conservation activities that improve the provision of ecosystem services. Defining the heterogeneity of farmers’ willingness to participate in watershed ecological compensation is critically important for fully understanding stakeholders’ demands. Accordingly, we designed a choice experiment survey to analyze the heterogeneity of policy preferences and willingness to receive compensation between upstream and midstream farmers in Xin’an River basin, China. Moreover, we simulated the impact of farmers’ social capitals’ heterogeneity with an agent-based model. The results show that there are significant differences in the preferences of agricultural waste recycling rate and agricultural water quality between farmers in the upstream and midstream. The total willingness of farmers in the upstream and midstream to participate in ecological compensation are RMB 149.88 (USD 22.54)/month and RMB 57.40 yuan (USD 8.63)/month, respectively. Social network size has a negative effect on farmers’ willingness to participate the programs. Our findings suggest that the characteristics of farmers’ influence their willingness to participate in the PES program. The results of this research can be used to improve PES management policies in the future, as well as to support sustainable environmental development and rural revitalization.

Food, Energy and Water Nexus: An Urban Living Laboratory Development for Sustainable Systems Transition

From a climate change perspective, the governance of natural common-pool resources—the commons—is a key point in the challenge of transitioning to sustainability. This paper presents the main strategic advances of the São Paulo Urban Living Laboratory (ULL) regarding Food, Energy and Water (FEW Nexus) analysis and modelling at the border of a high biodiverse forest in a peri-urban region in southeast Brazil. It is a replicable and scalable method concerning FEW governance. The FEW Nexus is an analytical guide to actions that will enable a colossal set of innovative processes that the transition to sustainability presupposes. Sustainable governance of the FEW dimensions, seen as an innovation-based process, is approached by a decision making tool to understand the past and future dynamics of the system. The governance framework is based on a multi-criteria and multi-attribute set of sustainability-relevant factors used as indicators to model complex system dynamics (SD) and the stakeholders’ future expectations through a Delphi approach. Based on the three main dimensions of the Ecosystem Services Approach—Physical and Material Conditions, Attributes of Communities, and Rules-in-Use—the tool comprises thirteen specific sustainability indicators such as water and carbon footprints, land use social development, payment for ecosystem services, and land use gain indices. Its development was designed to generate a long-term network of socioenvironmental stakeholders’ decision making processes and collective learning about a higher level of sustainable systems. System Dynamics modelling demonstrates the associations between sustainability indicators and the impacts of payment for ecosystem services on the land use social development index, or on the trophic state index. The Delphi foresight approach, using the Promethee-Gaia method, allows us to understand the positions of multiple agents regarding the transition process. In this context, decision making tools can be very useful and effective in answering the “how to” questions of ULLs and paving the way for transition, providing collective planning and decision support frameworks for sustainability transition management.

Valuing trans-disciplinarity: Forum Theatre in Tabasco and Chiapas, Mexico

ABSTRACT This article intervenes in the persistent hierarchy of epistemological worth that produces scientific knowledge as meaningful, and knowledge from arts or humanities as marginal, or illustrative. The specific trans-disciplinary project we discuss brings together environmental social sciences with performance-based Forum Theatre methods to explore ‘value’ as understood in communities in Tabasco and Chiapas, Mexico in relation to Payment for Ecosystem Services. Trans-disciplinary collaborations that seek to incorporate ‘novel’ methods to engage participants differently might better reflect the dynamic, emergent, and often shifting nature of beliefs, attitudes and values.

Fostering Ecosystem Services for Mitigating Climate Change and Sustaining Food Production Systems in Developing Economies

Among the greatest challenges of the 21st century is maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services (ESs) to sustainably feed the projected 9–10 billion people of the world by 2050. Presently, incentives to preserve ESs in developing economies are limited, implying that there are no direct market mechanisms to signal the scarcity or degradation of a service until it fails. ESs are public goods with no direct owners. Hence, payment for ecosystem services (PES) is a voluntary transaction that aims at filling this gap by creating a new market for services, including carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, watershed protection and landscape values. Emerging PES has challenged the culture of natural resource depletion without consideration of sustainability. Sustainability is core of climate change vortex, and developing economies are worst hit. Food insecurity and failing agricultural systems will further endanger the fragile balance of life in the region. Until the right approaches to de-risking ecosystem sustainability emerge, the perpetrators of climate change will keep getting away with the harmful effects to our corporate existence. This treatise critically examined how ESs can foster sustainable food production given their holistic inter-relatedness to the subject of climate change mitigation, in the light of global development goals.

Assessment of ecosystem services of the north-western part of the Black sea: state, problems and prospects

Formulation of the problem. Ecosystem services are resources and benefits that modern humanity can receive from the nature. It is the material benefit from abiogenic and biogenic components of various natural ecosystems. There were not large-scale studies according of evaluation ecosystem services in the Ukrainian water area of the Black Sea before, it is the actual environmental and socio-economic problem. Review of previous publications. The main approach to evaluating the state of ecosystems in the EU countries based on the choice of load indicators on the ecosystems and their mapping. Multi-level approach implies the next steps: detection and evaluation of services (indicators, borders, quantitative assessment); calculations and a demonstration of value (assessment in physical units and money equivalent); court fixation and solutions (tools - subsidies, taxes, payments for ecosystem services, etc.). Purpose. The man goal of the paper is analysis and estimation of modern state of ecosystem services, methods and perspectives of their using. Methods. The methodological basis of the study is the critical analysis of existing approaches to the assessment of ecosystem services of marine and coastal ecosystems. During the preparing of the paper published data had been used, as well as the materials of personal research on various aspects of the evaluation of ecosystem services of the Northwestern part of the Black Sea. Results. Marine and coastal ecosystems play a critical role in providing key services such as food supply, sequestration of anthropogenic carbon, waste management, biological regulation and the provision of habitat for hydrobionts. However, along with other ecosystems, today they are under serious anthropogenic pressure. Some types of anthropogenic activities have a very negative effect to the condition of natural ecosystems and to receive of their services. The ecosystems of the Northwestern part of the Black Sea are the living place of numerous organisms. These ecosystems consist on supporting services. Important regulatory services provide wetlands protected by the Ramsar Convention. The most intense cycle of nutrient substances occurs in the river’s mouth areas. The marine environment absorbs, disinfects and processes all sorts of waste production and consumption. Conclusions. Take into account of the limited information of the of ecosystem services under the Northwestern part of the Black Sea, the first task is to determine the needs of local populations for these services, collection and generalization of information about their condition, coordination of their assessment methods for the region and the evaluation itself.

Achieving Groundwater Governance: Ostrom's Design Principles and Payments for Ecosystem Services Approaches

AbstractGroundwater is a largely unseen common pool resource. Yet, driven by strong economic incentives, whether or not encouraged by existing policies, and the difficulty to exclude others, groundwater users are competing with each other to extract as much as possible, with devastating consequences for its sustainability. The challenges faced for sustainably managing such common pool resources, on which people have established de facto individual rights, are manifold. However, creating a market for trades of some kind in ecosystem services associated with groundwater could actually enhance the protection of this critical resource on the basis that protection can benefit individual groundwater users economically as well as provide a broader public good. This article uses Elinor Ostrom's design principles as an analytical tool to examine how market-based approaches such as payments for ecosystem services (PES) fit with some of the governance models that could be used to protect and enhance groundwater as a common pool resource. It argues that while there are specific design challenges to be overcome, PES as an institutional tool can align with Ostrom's ideas for the governance of groundwater.