Scale and landscape features matter for understanding the performance of large payments for ecosystem services

Abstract Various payment for ecosystem services (PES) programmes are becoming very common across the globe due to ever-strengthening conservation policies and aspirations for socio-ecological sustainability. Nevertheless, quantifying the performance of PES at large spatial scales remains very challenging. Here, a biophysically-based indicator approach is formulated to assess the effectiveness of a new large-scale PES program in China. Structural equation modelling was also used to reveal the possible landscape features that might impact the effectiveness of the PES. The results suggested the overall effectiveness of the PES implementation, but the effectiveness suggested by the analysis tended to decrease with increasingly fine spatial scales from the whole PES implementing region down to 100 km2 grids. The selected landscape features combined to explain 27% of the variability in the effectiveness of the PES programme. The spatial scale and landscape dependency of the effectiveness of PES could provide new insight to support the planning and adaptive management of large PES programmes.