Payments for ecosystem services as innovative financial instruments: An opportunity or a threat?

There is no traditional market incentive for the production of forest ecosystem services such as biodiversity conservation, aesthetic services, water and soil conservation, wildlife preservation, etc. One of the most popular concepts in the ecosystem management over the last decade has been payments for ecosystem services (PES) which include innovative financing instruments to ensure the sustainability of ecosystem services. There are various types of PES such as habitat use rights, protection easements and concessions, leases for protected areas, commercial carbon, biodiversity, watershed protection credits. Some believe that PES programs can support conservation of forest ecosystems as a savior while others, on the contrary, think that PES programs are the means to create new markets for commercialization and exploitation of public goods. In this paper, opportunities and threats to sustainable management of forest ecosystems that have been created by PES programs were examined. Finally, the possibilities of PES programs in Turkey were evaluated