15 Mar PAYMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
Nature provides us with everything. Water, which is magically renewed in an endless cycle of self-purification; the air; the plants that produce the oxygen required for the constant renovation; the soil that is capable of producing rich and diversified food, and the fibers for our clothing. Nature gives us energy, whether from fossil fuels such as oil or clean energy such as hydroelectric, solar, wind and biofuels. Nature alone promotes the regulation of its operation with food chains, pollination, nutrient cycling, waste decomposition and other wonders in a perfect and circular cycle without loss. These services that nature provides and that humankind benefits from are ecosystem services.
With the establishment of the National Payment Policy for Environmental Services by Law 14.119, dated January 13, 2020, anyone who promotes the recovery, maintenance or improvement of ecosystem services can be paid for these environmental services.
The payment for being good to the environment is a mark of the evolution of society. It is the understanding of the immeasurable value of a singular action that benefits the planet.
The National Policy has introduced fundamental concepts to the understanding of the dynamic of the environmental services. It has identified a means of payments for these services and established objectives and guidelines that can change the posture of society. It has created alternatives to the only means of survival that existed, which was the exploitation of these resources. Now, there is revenue in caring, avoiding habitat fragmentation, and being sustainable.
Finally, the differentiated method of our food production, maintaining a percentage of the native vegetation in the farms and respecting environmentally important locations, such as water springs, hillsides, riverbanks and others, will be not only remunerated but effectively appreciated both by the government through the Federal Payment Program for Environmental Services, and by the private sector, which is now encouraged to participate in the process.
Paying for environmental services is a change of posture, of culture and the future for Brazilian society.