PWS in the US
Becca Madsen on August 2, 2010 1 Comment
Ecosystem Marketplace caught up with Todd Gartner (with World Resources Institute, previously with American Forest Foundation) to find out about a pilot Payment for Watershed services scheme that is being developed in two watersheds in the Northeast US. Todd highlights the importance of focusing on demand in PES schemes - a theme also mentioned by a suite of other US-based PES players recently at a National Conference on Ecosystem Markets (see audio interview clips here:
Check out this link for AFF's executive summary of the project.
Todd Gartner's work using USDA CIG will generate valuable data and partnerships that will be needed to develop PES. The challenge with these type of efforts is that the government monies need to get out of the way and allow a market economy to emerge. The timing of this is critical and because government agencies and employees get intertwined within the process by the time they need to exist, they often don't and then they hang around and any semblence of a market dissolves. My take on the whole thing is spelled out in www.ecocommerce.us.com. Good luck.