Payment for environmental services between the adding and the subsidization: application to the valuation of the landscape in the San Juan dam, Madrid, Spain

Abstract

A payment for environmental services (PES) based on the beauty of the San Juan dam landscape is proposed containing two innovative aspect in regard to previous PES systems: the elaboration of a diagnosis oriented to obtain a shared vision of the area based in a participative process including all relevant local stakeholders, and the integration of the PES mechanism into the regional public environmental policy. The proposed system also identifies the offer and the demand of the environmental service. It shows the main problems associated to the preservation of the service and proposes management plans oriented to its conservation. Finally, the economic viability of the system is studied comparing three different scenarios according to the grade of integration of the PES model into the regional conservation public policy. This paper shows how a PES system can be used to guarantee public investments in nature conservation through a private management.