In this interview, World Bank environmental economist Stefano Pagiola discusses his role in the development of payment for environmental services (PES) programs in Costa Rica and Mexico. He begins by discussing the World Bank's role in improving payment and service targeting in Mexican and Costa Rican PES programs based on environmental/biodiversity and cost-effectiveness economic analyses. He then describes technical challenges faced in the implementation of Costa Rica's PES program, and similar challenges due to up-scaling the program for Mexico. Next, Pagiola outlines the political challenges PES faced in both countries and how the programs were re-shaped to better attract political support. Finally, he discusses difficulties in formulating an impact evaluation for these PES programs, and how they have been received in implementing countries in Latin America. 

In this interview, Torres explains the conception of Mexico’s Payment for Environmental Services (PES) program, the process of its expansion and its role in relationship to other federal environmental programs. He describes the implementation of pilot projects based upon similarly designed programs in Costa Rica, and the involvement of such organizations like the World Bank in the program’s funding. He talks about the importance of creating technical committees that provided means for discussing the program’s criteria for preventing deforestation. He addresses the operational challenges that he faced as director general of the National Forest Service of Mexico/Comision Nacional Forestal (CONAFOR) that was in charge of PES, including the implementation of matching-funds and price differentiation programs. Finally, he reflects on CONAFOR’s main goals in relation to PES and the sustainability of the program. 

In this interview, Carlos Muñoz discusses the implementation of the Payment for Environmental Services (PES) program in Mexico. He relates how the idea for PES developed during his studies and his travels through Mexico and Latin America. While finishing his dissertation at UC Berkeley, Muñoz received an offer of employment at the Mexican National Institute of Ecology (INE). As the Director of Economic Research at INE, Muñoz worked to earmark a portion of existing water taxes to fund the PES program, which pays communities for the positive externalities of their forests. Muñoz describes the complicated but ultimately successful processes of developing the PES policy at INE and then building political consensus to pass it into law. Once this was accomplished in 2003, PES quickly gained support from the involved communities, and program funding was expanded. INE then focused on improving PES by better targeting the forests at greatest risk of being destroyed. Muñoz describes how the program successfully reduced deforestation rates and empowered communities, who used PES money for education and community forestry firms. He lastly relates the program’s greatest challenges and the influence of outside groups like the World Bank. Muñoz hopes that PES will continue to improve its targeting of forests, and sees discretional use of PES as the program’s biggest threat in the future.

In this interview, Franz Tattenbach shares his experiences as Executive Director of FUNDECOR (Foundation for the Protection of the Central Volcanic Mountain Chain) regarding forestry management and environmental services. He describes how FUNDECOR negotiated with the conservation community to pass the 1996 Forestry Law that allowed environmental service payments (PES) and explains how these reforms were implemented.  He then evaluates the successes and impacts of the PES program before going on to describe FUNDECOR’s activities and roles in the conservation community since the 1996 law. 

Other Key Terms: Cordillera, FUNDECOR (Foundation for the Protection of the Central Volcanic Mountain Chain)