What are examples of payments for ecosystem services?
Government or public payments: Through conservation incentives, tax credits, and subsidies, the government may compensate private landowners for protecting, enhancing, or restoring an ecosystem service. Voluntary private payments: Businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and conservation groups may provide payments to landowners for philanthropic, public relations, or ethical reasons or to protect investments. For example, a developer may pay a forest landowner to maintain an attractive view. An interest group may pay for hunting leases on private land. A bottled water company may protect its water source by paying upstream landowners to implement good management practices. Regulation-driven private payments: To comply with national policy (no net wetlands loss) or to more efficiently comply with regulations (water quality and safe drinking water standards), regulated entities may choose alternatives to traditional pollution control measures. For example, the Environmental Protection
