Compensation for environmental services and public policies in indigenous and peasant communities of the andean countries: New methodologies and strategies for a countrywide dialogue

Abstract

In the last decade, global financial institutions together with national ministries promote the implementation of compensation for environmental services and markets for local and rural Andean regions, aiming to mitigate or prevent environmental destruction and establishing new funds for to finance sustainable rural development in poor and vulnerable regions. The essay aims to demonstrate the huge variety of concepts, experiences and results regarding these new economic models focused on mountain regions of the Andes. As Andean countries still show a "traditional" asymmetric distribution of power, CES models promise sustainability through a new rationality and burocracy, especially related to environmental an and water administration sector. Some impacts of CES are, that public, as well as social and ritual (water and environmental) functions are been reduced, especially those related to water authorities, local water resource management and water rights in the Andean region