Understanding the role of innovation systems in PES development: A survey of stakeholder perspectives

Water-related ecosystem services of forest land are essential for human well-being. Their provision is related to forest management practices that forest owners and managers apply. When these preferential management practices increase the operating costs, they should be paid/compensated by users of these services. The research focused on identifying the prerequisites of the innovation systems to support payments for ecosystem services (PES) in Slovakia. We analysed the structure, relationships, and functions of the innovation system as monetary and non-monetary incentives, cooperation support and risk mitigation. We collected data using a standardised questionnaire sent out to stakeholders from forestry, nature protection, water management and civil society. The data was processed with simple descriptive methods commonly used in social studies and survey data processing. The information about the potential supply and demand of water-related ecosystem services were obtained from forest owners and managers makes the PES development in the future more feasible. Results revealed that when developing PES schemes, the coordination of stakeholders should follow settled legislation rules at the national level, which still need to be included. Furthermore, the innovation system should provide mainly monetary incentives to providers of ecosystem services.