Good practice

Mexico National Payments for Hydrological Services (PSAH)

Mexico · Guadalajara · See the Mexico profile

Mexico's national government PES scheme (CONAFOR) compensates forest owners ~USD 24/ha/yr to conserve 4.27 million ha of priority watersheds; 78% of payments reach highly marginalised communities since 2003.

~USD 24 /ha/yr

Payment rate

4.27M ha

Priority watershed conserved

78%

Payments reaching marginalised communities (since 2003)

Mexico National Payments for Hydrological Services (PSAH)

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: CONAFOR - Comision Nacional Forestal
Period: 2003-present
Keywords: Tropical forest, watershed, water services, carbon

Context

Mexico's national Payments for Hydrological Services scheme, run by CONAFOR, compensates forest owners to conserve priority watersheds.

Results

It pays about USD 24/ha/yr to conserve 4.27M ha, with 78% of payments reaching highly marginalised communities since 2003.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-20
CONAFOR - Comision Nacional Forestal — accessed 2026-06-20
IIED - Mexico's Payments for Ecosystem Services Programme — accessed 2026-06-20
3ie - Impacts of Mexico's payments for ecosystem services (impact evaluation) — accessed 2026-06-20

Attachments

Source image

Quality score: 60/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 16% in this catalogue (335 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Carbon — sequestration / storage, evidenced2/3

Enrolled forests maintain tree cover and reduce deforestation pressure; IIED and 3ie evaluations confirm lower deforestation in enrolled vs. comparable non-enrolled areas, but no tonne-level carbon verification is issued.

Biodiversity — conservation / improvement, evidenced2/3

Programme targets forests in high-biodiversity priority watersheds; IIED review finds enrolled areas have higher conservation value, though no species-level monitoring is published.

Water & soil — retention, infiltration, erosion control3/3

Core objective: compensating owners of forests above critical aquifer recharge zones and river headwaters; independent 3ie evaluation confirmed measurable hydrological outcomes.

Fire resilience — risk reduction, evidenced0/3

Fire risk reduction is not a stated objective of PSAH and no fire-related evidence is provided.

Governance, certification & transferability2/3

National-government programme with published annual rules, independent evaluations and budget transparency; lacks a tradeable credit registry or international certification standard.

Cite this

Evidoria. Mexico National Payments for Hydrological Services (PSAH). Persistent ID: e8f17b66-edc3-4e3c-a66b-33c80c3d29ca.

Export as decision brief (PDF)

Similar practices you may find useful

★ 87

Bhutan for Life — Project Finance for Permanence (Bhutan)

Bhutan

Asia's first 'Project Finance for Permanence' secures 1.1 M ha of protected Himalayan forest in Bhutan via a USD 118 …

★ 73

DRC Mai-Ndombe Emission Reductions Programme (FCPF / World Bank)

Congo (the Democratic Republic of the)

The world's first national REDD+ programme in the FCPF Carbon Fund (Dec 2016); verified 3.89 M tCO2e for 2019–2020, earning …

★ 67

Portugal Ecosystem Services Remuneration Programme — Serra do Açor & Tejo Internacional

Portugal

Portugal's national PES pilot (Resolução 121/2019): Fundo Ambiental pays 14 landowners €3.7M over 20 years to conserve 27,674 ha — …

★ 67

China Sloping Land Conversion Programme (Grain for Green / SLCP)

China

World's largest PES programme: China's Grain for Green converted 34.3M ha of sloped farmland to forest and grassland since 1999, …