1.0 Introduction The earth's natural ecosystems – be it forests, mountains, agricultural lands, grass lands, freshwater bodies, wetlands, and coastal stretches – provide services ranging from, but not limited to, clean air, fresh water, storm protection, irrigation, pollination, soil conservation, and carbon sequestration. Furthermore, these interconnected ecosystem services may be aligned to have unprecedented potential in DRR and resilience of livelihood systems. However, human activity is stressing these crucial planetary lifelines, and impairing biodiversity and land productivity at massive scales. As per the International Union for the Conservation of Nature(IUCN, 2020 A): Globally, about 20 per cent of the planet's vegetated surface shows decline in productivity with fertility losses due to erosion and soil depletion; Unsustainable food production and exploitation of resources has resulted in a loss of about 100 million hectares of forests since 2000, and also grassland and landscape desertification; Seventy per cent of wetlands have been lost over the last century; and At the current rate of mangrove destruction(1% every year), they will functionally disappear by 2100. The cycle of ecosystem destruction is complex and much more severe than what meets the eye. Consider the fact that this human induced ecosystem destruction is co­located with changing climate, and rising frequency and severity of climate disasters, which in turn have more adverse impacts on the health of ecosystems. Underlying all forms of degradation is humanity's continually accelerating demand for more and more resources – primarily food, energy, commodities – and land. For example, in the case of forests – 80 per cent of tropical deforestation is due to agriculture. Forest-dependent communities also cut trees for their needs; in the long run that adversely impacts the communities themselves (Mongabay, 2012). 1 The United Nations has termed 2021-30 the Decade on Restora on of Ecosystems . According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, human-induced terrestrial degradation is interfering with“the well-being of at least 3.2 billion people, pushing the planet towards a sixth mass extinction of species” that is costing“about 10 per cent of the annual global gross product in loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services”(IPBES, 2018). Within this period, the Bonn Challenge set out a goal to restore 350 million sq. km.(almost the size of India) of degraded terrestrial ecosystems by 2030(Waltham and others, 2020). The Deser fica on and Land Degrada on Atlas of India , released in 2016, estimates that about 30 per cent(96.4 million ha.) of land in India is degraded(ISRO, 2016). According to some projections, as a result of climate change, India could potentially lose up to 1,730 billion US dollars by 2050; specifically, land degradation and poor crop productivity by itself is estimated to have reduced India's Gross Domestic Product by 2.5 per cent in 2014-15, or approximately 73 billion US dollars(India Together, 2021). The crux of the issue is that the benefits of ecosystems are enjoyed by the entire planet, while the benefits of felling the forests, or depleting the watersheds, or mining the mountainsides, are accrued privately, by a few, leading to a vicious cycle of over exploitation and destruction. This is the age-old story of the fight of, and for the commons(Hardin 1968). Undoubtedly, governments and philanthropy work with local Non­governmental Organisations(NGOs) and good Samaritans on the ground – this is essential – but the state of ecosystems demonstrates that current approaches are unable to solve the problem at the scale of devastation that is upon the planet. According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the period from 2000 to 2019 saw approximately 2.97 trillion US dollars in direct economic losses due to climate-related events(UNDRR and CRED, 2020).mining the mountainsides, are accrued privately, by a Payments for Ecosystem Services