An Assessment of Intermediary Roles in Payments for Ecosystem Services Schemes in the Context of Catchment Management: An Example from South West England

Abstract

Payments for Ecosystems Services (PES) schemes are an underdeveloped component of the policy mix for catchment management in many countries. The importance of intermediaries to such schemes is acknowledged in the literature but few studies go beyond theory to evaluate practice. This paper analyses generic intermediary functions for PES. It then evaluates an innovative example from southwest England that provides illustrations, and some lessons regarding necessary capabilities and characteristics for intermediaries, and understanding of their form, functions and modalities. project was co-developed by a private water company and an environmental charity. The former translated effective demand from shareholders and water customers for improved raw water quality into finance, whilst the latter had capabilities for catchment-scale on-farm delivery and trusted acceptance as an intermediary. While any sector can potentially provide a PES intermediary, the value driven, not-for-profit and politically neutral voluntary sector proves to be a good fit. Such 'boundary organisations' are also well placed for horizontal coordination of catchment management authorities and actions.

Water quality issues and agriculture: An international review of innovative policy schemes

“…Some papers provide theoretical insights on design features that could improve their effectiveness by favouring spatial targeting increasing participation or reducing transaction costs . Another group of papers describes empirical case studies of innovative schemes addressing water quality issues, in France , Germany or the United-Kingdom (Cook et al, 2017) among others. However, policy design analysis of existing schemes is scarce, and often limited to a specific policy instrument such as collaborative schemes , results-oriented schemes or payments for environmental services .…”

Influences on farmer decision-making behaviour considering a payment for ecosystem services scheme: farmers’ and scheme facilitators’ perceptions.

“…Despite the importance of these individuals, most research that assesses the practices, roles or effectiveness of intermediaries do not exceed theoretical considerations (Huber-Stearns et al, 2013;Pham et al, 2010;Bosselmann and Lund, 2013). Additionally, such studies have generally focused on PES schemes in developing countries where the actors and procedure involved can be constrained by factors such as income, capacity and other developmental impacts (Cook et al, 2017). There has also been little direct research attention towards the views of the professionals expected to carry out or already employed in these intermediary roles.…”

“…While there is a wealth of accumulated knowledge in the theoretical and experimental fields related to PES, it remains uncertain how PES theory translates into practice to encourage and sustain improved behaviours (Prokofieva, 2016). Moreover, the studies that do exist tend to relate to developing countries which have different environmental and social contexts to the UK (Cook et al, 2017). It is therefore vital to comprehend examples of PES existing in the UK to assist future PES schemes applied in the country.…”