Payments for environmental services

The PSA program consists of a financial recognition by the State to the owners and possessors of forests and forest plantations for the environmental services that they provide and that directly affect the protection and improvement of the environment, in turn favoring the water resource. Different experts describe this instrument as environmental governance and are, in short, useful to guarantee the preservation of ecosystems through economic incentives. However, it is important to consider that the most important characteristic of this program is that it changed the traditional concept of "subsidy" or "incentive" to that of "economic recognition" for the environmental services provided by the forest.