Payments for Hydrologic Environmental Services and forest cover dynamics in the Iztaccíhuatl-Popocatépetl region, Puebla

Abstract

Payment for hydrologic environmental services is an instrument of environmental policy applied in most countries to promote conservation of ecosystems, especially forest ecosystems. In 2003, the Mexican government through the National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR) implemented the Payment for Hydrological Environmental Services (PHES) to address the problems of water and deforestation in the country. A prerequisite for an area to receive the PHES is to maintain a minimum 80% forest cover, or increase it during the five-year contract. PHES program Assessments on forest cover have been mainly national or regional scale studies. In Mexico there is not impact assessment at community level scale at which the PHES is executed. This study assesses the impact of PHES on the forest cover dynamics in six ejidos of the Iztaccíhuatl-Popocatépetl region, Puebla. To perform the study, two Quickbird images were used and a supervised classification was performed. The results indicate that the PHES achieved its goal in four of the six ejidos.

Keywords

• hydrologic services
• environmental service
• Puebla
• México