Public policy of payment for environmental services for the conservation of water resources: origins, actors, interests and results of institutional action

This article analyzes different aspects related to actors and institutions responsible for the existence of three major public projects for payment for water conservation services. Moreover, this study regards to what extent these projects contribute to recognize and value the multifunctionality of family farming. For such purpose, a case study of the following projects was carried out: ProdutorES de Agua (Espirito Santo), Conservador das Aguas (Minas Gerais) and Projeto Piloto (Sao Paulo). In these cases, project makers, managers and implementers were interviewed. The origins of these projects showed that they derived from the presence of three main elements technical, political interest and financial support. The existence of these elements was made possible due to the work of different technical actors, politicians and partners. The interests that moved their actions were focused on political and institutional visibility, the environmental expertise accumulation and aimed at forest restoration, as well as being the main results achieved by the projects. Although the actors aimed to recognize, encourage and support farmers by and for environmental conservation, that was not the perspective that motivated actors. Thus, in addition to social, economic and cultural dimensions of the rural population being largely ignored, with the privilege of strictly environmental dimension; the latter also seems to have not been treated properly. Nevertheless, significant institutional results achieved allow us to explain the deep engagement of actors to undertake such projects.