Costa Rica is the Poster Child for Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES)

We have all heard the prase "that money does not grow on trees" and whilst the trees may not actually grow bank notes they do provide a range of valuable environmental services whose value can be measured eg. roots stablising earth to prevent landslides. absorbtion of Co2 from the atmosphere, and many more.

The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity (TEEB), a UN backed project estimates the cost of deforestationand rainforest destruction is $2 - $5 triollion per year!

At October's Convention on Bioligical Diversity meeting almost every country in the world pledged to make the changes that reward conservation of vital ecosystems and penalize its destruction.

Costa Rica has been applying its Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) system since the 1990's and is the poster child for this system.

To read more coverage by Richard Black, Environment Correspondent BBC, click here