In this chapter we focus on tradeoffs. Tradeoff can be a verb (trading off one benefit against another) and a noun, describing the relationship between two variables (in part of the range) where an increase in one tends to be associated with a decrease of the other. A temporal tradeoff is, for example, between having and eating your cake. A spatial tradeoff can exist, for example, between using water on-site for plant growth and allowing water to runoff and be used elsewhere. A complex multi-stakeholder tradeoff exists where forms of payment are given in exchange for specific services (based on the ‘willingness to pay’ tradeoff), and are accepted by a party who finds the reward offered worth the effort (based on the ‘willingness to accept’ tradeoff), with the whole transaction being part of a wider efficiency-fairness tradeoff among multiple PES paradigms. We here discuss three types of tradeoffs in the context of PES, relate them to learning loops, ecological buffers, climate change and scale, and then relate this all to the steps to get a PES mechanism started and through adaptive learning make it a success, while perceptions of tradeoffs by all parties involved keep changing.

Authors: Villamor, G.B.; van Noordwijk, M.; Leimona, B.; Duguma L.A.

Subjects: ecosystem services, incentive

Publication type: Chapter-R, Publication

Year: 2017