PAYMENT FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (PES) SUCCESS!
“Developing an Experimental Methodology for Testing the Effectiveness of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) to Enhance Conservation in Productive Landscapes in Uganda”
as well as the post-pilot project:
“Harnessing Livelihood Benefits from a Payment for Environmental Services scheme”.
The pilot project tested the effectiveness of PES as a viable means of financing and procuring biodiversity conservation outside of protected areas in Uganda. The Darwin Initiatives funded the post project aiming at harnessing livelihood benefits from the scheme through support in the establishment and management of forest based enterprises.

Using an experimental methodology focusing on private and communal land in Uganda, the result of these studies demonstrated that a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) model is a viable means for financing and procuring biodiversity conservation outside protected areas.
Chimpanzee Trust was the lead implementer of the project in collaboration with the following organizations:
National Environment Management Authority (NEMA)
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
Katoomba Group
Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA)
Nature Harness Initiatives
United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP)
Global Environmental Facility (GEF)
International Scientists (Seema Jayachardran, et al)
For Chimpanzee Trust Management and Staff the hard work put into this project was worthwhile and we appreciate all the partners and landowners we worked with. We hope this approach will be adopted and sustained to save the world.
Media Coverage and Scientific Articles:
- Read the New York Times story A Cheap Fix For Climate Change?
- Voice of America publication Farmers Paid Not To Cut Trees
- Science Magazine Publication: Cash for carbon: A randomized trial of payments for ecosystem services to reduce deforestation
- The Atlantic: The Success of Paying People to Not Cut Down Trees
- Inside Climate News: Paying People to Not Cut Down Trees Pays Off, Study Finds
- Popular Science: Stopping deforestation might be easier than we thought
- Seema Jayachandran Interview: Cash for carbon: A cost-effective way to reduce deforestation
- Science Journals: Full story on PES Research