Mexico’s Payments for Ecosystem Services: Two Decades of Conservation, Challenges, and Insights

For over twenty years, Mexico has been at the forefront of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), a policy instrument that provides financial incentives to landowners for conserving forests and maintaining essential ecosystem services such as water regulation, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity preservation [1,2]. Since its inception in 2003, Mexico’s federal PES programs have encompassed approximately 7.4 million hectares, positioning them among the most extensive and enduring initiatives globally [3].