PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Payment of Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes are a promising economic instrument for diversifying the incomes of forest owners and rural communities, while supporting biodiversity and climate goals. However, the benefits of providing ecosystem services are rarely rewarded and are usually limited to small-scale pilots. Analysis of current EU policy and financial programmes, supported by a robust consultation process with key stakeholders, will provide the knowledge needed to design appropriate policy and business recommendations on PES and PES-like schemes. This will help improve ecosystem services provided by European forests and achieve the key targets of the EU Forest and Biodiversity Strategies.
OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of the LIFE ProForPES preparatory project are to:
- improve knowledge of existing forest PES and PES-like schemes in Europe
- develop guidelines for data collection, analysis and interpretation
- enhance the integration and promotion of PES and PES-like schemes within EU financial programmes and within national aid frameworks supported by EU Member States
- promote the adoption of forest PES best practices within current and future EU and national financing instruments
RESULTS
The project’s expected results are:
- collection of PES and PES-like cases from existing databases, EU-funded initiatives and national projects
- creation of a database containing at least 200 case studies
- a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of existing PES and PES-like cases to provide lessons learnt from previous experiences at European level
- a SWOT analysis of EU financial programmes and national incentives supporting PES schemes
- guidelines and recommendations for future funding programmes