ADVANCES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE PAYMENT FOR HYDROLOGICAL ENVIROMENTAL SERVICES IN MEXICO, 2003 - 2009

Abstract

In the present study is analyzed the process of implementation of the Payment for Hydrological Environmental Services (PHES) program in Mexico during the 2003 - 2009 period, which arises like a national public policy instrument directed to the creation of new schemes of economic compensation to land owners that count with forest cover, for the conservation of forests and the environmental services that these provide, including the hydrological. For this aim, the theoretical-conceptual frame of Environmental Services and its historical acceptance at international level was resorted. The consequent revision of diverse academic works published in this theme allowed the foundation of the intention and utility of the study that consists of the first systematic effort of the analysis of the implementation of the program in Mexico, by a comparison between the federal PSAH schemes in Mexico and Costa Rica (the most acknowledged case at Latin America level). The documentary support of the investigation was accomplished by field work with interviews applied to decision makers, government employees and some beneficiaries in both countries. El apoyo documental de la investigación se realizó mediante el trabajo de campo con aplicación de entrevistas a los tomadores de decisión, los funcionarios y algunos beneficiarios en ambos países. Finally, based upon four predetermined criteria (the operation capacity, the institutional politics and financial framework) it was possible to formulate the major advances and limitations of the program in Mexico and to consider on its challenges in the future, as part of the exercise of public policies evaluation, which is dedicated to the improvement of these instruments.