2.0 What are PES? UNDP's Social and Environmental Standards Toolkit groups ecosystem services into four main categories (UNDP, 2023): (i) Provisioning services: Goods people receive from ecosystems, such as food, water, timber, medicinal plants, etc.; (ii) Regulating services: Benefits people derive from the regulation of ecosystem processes such as surface water purification, carbon capture and storage, climate moderation, and protection from natural hazards, etc.; (iii) Cultural services: Non-material benefits for people such as aesthetic stimulus, recreation, cultural belonging and spiritual experience, including sacred sites; and (iv) Supporting services: Natural processes necessary for other services such as soil formation, nutrient cycling and primary production. Communities that are strongly dependent on natural ecosystems, be it in a rural or an urban setting, can benefit from financial incentives for their stewardship to protect ecological assets, so that they continue to provide a set of life sustaining and protective services. PES is a step in the direction for creating a socio­economic system that recognises communities as ecosystem managers. Global economic models currently are discussing the value of ecosystem services, but the relevant stakeholders have been unable to come together in their own best interests, yet: to jointly contribute to the achievement of an agenda of commons. PES initiatives mobilise these stakeholders 3 to create a productive system that predictably delivers value for all stakeholders. The idea behind PES is to pay communities to protect their land and other ecological assets(also considered 'resilience infrastructure') in the interest of ensuring the provision of certain specific'services'(values) rendered by nature, such as clean water, habitats for wildlife, carbon storage, and protection from disasters. This involves a series of periodic payments(incentives) to landowners(or stewards or managers) of the natural resources in return for a guaranteed flow of ecosystem services and measurable conservation benefits such as carbon sequestration, reforestation, mangrove and wetland conservation, watershed protection, etc. Set up as a voluntary transaction between two parties, the payments may be made privately or indirectly with government participation, as the two actions illustrated in the background to this paper. By incentivising sustainable management of ecosystems, PES also reduces the vulnerability of communities and the exposure of landscapes to hazards such as floods, droughts, heat waves, cyclones, etc.; the critical goals of Eco-DRR. PES, a relatively new conservation strategy, is an upgraded version of Integrated Conservation and Development Programmes, or eco-development /grassroots conservation, because of its focus on the needs of local people and communities as much as on environmental conservation. The communities that inhabit these ecosystems are generally the poor and vulnerable, and those that most acutely suffer from climate change and development-by-extrac ve methods. This focus on socio-economic outcomes and poverty reduction, also helps PES programmes reduce inherent conflicts that arise between conservation experts and local communities. At the same time, PES ties funds to activities that benefit the planet. These payments are made by the entities that benefit from the ecosystem services; this could be individuals, businesses, or governments representing communities and societies(Fripp, 2014). Therefore, In contrast to the 'polluter pays principle,' PES follows a 'beneficiary pays principle' and is considered a more amenable approach. By providing a periodic and assured flow of payment(income), PES can achieve multiple 3 Key stakeholders in PES may include landowners/resource managers, government agencies, buyers/civil society, local communities, scientific and technical experts, financial institutions and investors, regulatory and enforcement agencies, etc. 3 Payments for Ecosystem Services