Indonesia is naturally blessed. The country sits on some of the most valuable, most extensive ecological real estate in the world: rainforest, mangrove swamp, coral reefs and temperate woodland all abound across the archipelago.
Until recently, this ecological wealth wouldn't have mattered all that much, at least in monetary terms. After all, no one actually pays for this natural endowment.
Until now, that is. ""Payment for environmental services"", often abbreviated to PES, is now hitting the economic mainstream -- and Indonesia could be in for some windfall profits.
There is no better illustration of Indonesia's natural good fortune than the Leuser ecosystem in northern Sumatra. Leuser is one of the ecologically richest places on earth. It contains over twenty-five thousand known species, including 4 percent of the worlds birds and 3 percent of its mammals.
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