Payments for Environmental Services' (PES) is not a new idea and has been found to be very beneficial, rewarding and cost effective as in the cases of the FONAFIFO program in Costa Rica which compensates upstream landowners for the protection of biodiversity and scenic beauty; or as in the case of New York City, USA which in 1992 entered into a PES agreement with the farmers and forestry landowners of the Catskill/ Delaware watershed for its clean water supplies.(Bishkek Global Mountain Summit 2002)
Mountains are not just some arbitrary system to be considered purely of value because of their particular beauty and biodiversity or for their recreational resources. Earths' mountain Systems should be considered as the 'Roof of the World' and as any householder knows; if the roof becomes unstable the whole house is in danger of collapse. Unfortunately, due to the massive deforestation of the indigenous forests of Earths’ mountain regions within an extremely short span of time the roof has become destabilised and all of life on Earth is at risk.