CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS IN OPERATIONALISATION OF PAYMENT FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (PES) IN INDIA: EVIDENCE FROM LAND DEGRADATION

The understanding of the requirement for PES and necessary capacity of stakeholders to conceive, design and execute PES, are critical to its successful operationalisation. Identification and assessment of capacity needs are also prerequisite for PES especially in a developing country like India where institutional setting and functioning are far from the desirable level. In this background, the paper begins with an introduction of the basic concept and centrality of economic valuation in PES. Next, the paper discusses the status of the land degradation problem in India and how the PES can prove to be an efficient tool to manage the declining ecosystem services due to increasing land degradation in the Country. By identifying the direct and indirect drivers of land degradation, the stage is set for designing of appropriate response options for halting the degradation of land which is not only the base of agrarian economy of India but source of livelihood options for the poor. In the subsequent section, the paper assesses the required capacity to operationalise PES in the states where the problem of land degradation is acute. This has been done on the basis of wider consultation with land users (farmers), conservation agencies, Departments of Land Agriculture and related R&D agencies through a structured questionnaire in group meetings in different parts of the Country during 2006-2007. The necessary capacity on behalf of stakeholders like the Local, State and National level institutions have been mapped out. The result from the survey suggests that while the capacity to understand the ecosystem services is adequate, the capacity to do valuation of incremental change in the ecosystem services is not sufficient and the State still needs to invest significant amount of resources before this tool can be used to manage the land based ecosystem services in India. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.