Water resources conservation through the implementation of payments for environmental services in a watershed
Payments for environmental services (PES) are an economic incentive tool increasingly used for watershed conservation. Based on the concept of environmental services, the PES approach allows the combination of several conservation objectives at the watershed scale to improve the attributes of the water resources. Improving the availability of surface water and groundwater recharge, and improving water quality by reducing water erosion and enhancing nitrate filtration, are examples of services that enhance the conservation of watersheds and improve the economic efficiency of investments. In Morocco, watershed conservation has gone through important steps towards the implementation of integrated management, but PES are not yet implemented. Their implementation in the country will be of interest and simultaneously thwarted by a number of limitations. This paper presents the concept of environmental services and the economic foundations of PES, then presents a point of view and proposals for their implementation to improve watershed conservation in the specific context of Morocco.