Biodiversity provides crucial benefits for society by providing food and genetic resources, purifying water, and regulating climate. Yet biodiversity is declining worldwide and, in some areas, this loss is accelerating. The need for policies that promote the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services is more important than ever. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are direct incentive-based mechanisms under which the user or beneficiary of an ecosystem service makes a direct payment to an individual or community whose land-use decisions have an impact on the ecosystem service provision. Interest in PES has been increasing rapidly worldwide over the past decade, and more than 300 programs are already in place at national, regional, and local levels. Drawing on the literature concerning effective PES, and referencing some 30 case studies from developed and developing countries, this book reviews good practice in the design and implementation of PES programs.