PAYMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES: AMBITIOUS TOOLS FOR THE SUSTAINABLE USE OF NATURAL CAPITAL

The flows of natural resources, goods and services (air quality, soil fertility etc.) from ecosystems are the natural capital of the economies. Among these flows the ecosystem services are critic and in decline. It has been underlined the need for ecosystem accounting techniques to study the relationship between economic sectors and their dependence from ecosystem goods and services, as well as the impacts on the last ones. Many countries are being developed payment programmes for ecosystem services (PES). This paper analyses definitions, scope, schemes and the main actors of the PES as tool to protect the natural capital