Subproject 7

Strengths and weaknesses of governmental PES in the three study areas

Ass. jur. Msc. Claas Meyer

Claas Meyer will be devoted to the investigation of governmental financial instruments for the remuneration of environmental goods and cultural landscape services. The goal is to identify the possibilities for improved control of sustainable landscape development through governmental instruments by assessing their strengths and weaknesses. The analysis will be composed of three main parts:

• An overview of the dissemination of the Ecosystem Services (ES) idea within the legislation of the US and the EU
• An inventory of the existing governmental PES (Payments for Ecosystem Services) schemes in the US, UK and Germany
• An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of different single PES schemes, drawing on New Institutional Economics

The aim in the analysis of single PES is to thematically focus on water-services related schemes. The expected outcomes are i) an aggregated validation result on the success or non-success of the different PES schemes and ii) profound statements regarding the advantages and disadvantages of certain institutional arrangements for the success of PES schemes.

Progress

• Poster: Subproject 7
• Exposé Subproject 7

Objectives of the subprojects

• Subproject 1Significance and innovation potential of non-governmental versus governmental PES in dependence of the institutional framework
• Subproject 2Who pays for which ecosystem service – where, how much and why? The social and cultural comparison of PES
• Subproject 3Analysis of the nature of the remunerated ecological and cultural landscape services and the use of ecological models in the course of the instrument design
• Subproject 4Analysis of the relevant civil society organizations with focus on foundations and trusts
• Subproject 5Participation in the designing of payments for ecosystem services (PES) - a comparison of PES design processes in Germany and Great Britain
• Subproject 6Civil Society Initiatives and Payments for Ecosystem Services: A New Institutional Economics Approach

• Subproject 7Strengths and weaknesses of governmental PES in the three study areas