32

The international dissemination of payments for ecosystem services (PES) was interpreted in 2010 by the Bolivian government of Evo Morales as a narrowly neoliberal response to the need to ensure a sustainable management of natural resources. Since it was seen as a contribution to the crowding-out of any regulation other than that of the market—whether applied to nature or to personal relationships—the implementation of PES was not encouraged by the Bolivian national authorities. However, some PES projects stemming from a public-private partnership have been initiated at local level, such as Acuerdos Reciprocos por el Agua (ARA) in the department of Santa Cruz. Analyzing their design and working within a Polanyian framework, we show that, contrary to government fears, these PES do not disregard reciprocal and redistributive organizational logics, but tend to adjust a global object to the local context.