Résumé
A political and social recognition of ecosystem services is increasingly complementing that of services generally expected from agriculture. It is in this context that this chapter discusses the role of payments for environmental services in regulating agricultural and forestry activities. We first show how the initial representation of payments for environmental services as ‘market instruments’, designed to ensure the internalization of environmental externalities, has evolved over almost 20 years of implementation characterized by the funding and management primarily by the State of payments for environmental services. Payments for environmental services are now widely recognized as transfers aimed at influencing private and/or collective use of land, and addressing political and institutional concerns regarding the management of natural resources. After noting the benefits and limitations of environmental and sustainable labels in relation to payments for environmental services, we propose an original and integrative approach for such payments at the local and national levels, which combines agri-chain approaches (labels, zero deforestation) and territorial approaches, in order to reconcile conservation and development of territories by ensuring the sustainability of agricultural activities.