Complementary Environmental Service Reward Programmes for Sustainable Mosaic Landscapes in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, Mexico

The National Forest Commission (CONAFOR) initiated a PES program in Sierra Madre (SM)-Mexico focusing on Hydrological Environmental Services Program (PASH). It provides 22 to 29USD/hectare/year and in the period 2003- 2008, USD 380 million has been paid to communities and small landowners for avoiding deforestation and watershed protection.  In addition, the involvement of local NGOs such as cooperative Ambio in collaboration with partners has designed and implemented the Scolel' Tel project, which uses the Plan Vivo system to certify carbon projects with farming communities in Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico. Ambio's BioClimate Fund – a market place for sellers and buyers of credits, which is still growing – has sold over 77,000 credits between 1997-2006. The challenge for the project is to target buyers for the multiple benefits of Plan Vivo (climate change mitigation, poverty alleviation, and biodiversity conservation) to garner a higher price per credit.