Law No. 15.173 providing for the State Policy and Programme on Payments for Environmental Services.

This Law establishes the State Policy and the State Programme for Payment for Environmental Services (PSA) in the State of Bahia. The law aims to recognize, encourage, and reward individuals, communities, organizations, and institutions that maintain, restore, or improve ecosystem services through monetary or non-monetary incentives. Its objectives include promoting biodiversity conservation, protecting water resources and soils, valuing traditional knowledge and sociobiodiversity, reducing environmental degradation, strengthening climate change mitigation efforts, and fostering sustainable development while reducing social inequalities in both rural and urban areas. The policy is guided by principles such as the provider-receiver, user-pays, and polluter-pays approaches, and seeks to create economic mechanisms that recognize the social, cultural, and environmental value of ecosystem services. The law establishes a comprehensive framework for implementing environmental service payments, covering activities such as conservation and restoration of native vegetation, biodiversity protection, water conservation, sustainable waste management, ecological corridor creation, agroforestry systems, and greenhouse gas emission reductions. Special attention is given to Indigenous lands, quilombola territories, traditional communities, family farmers, recyclers, and voluntary forest-fire brigades. To operationalize the policy, the law creates PEPSA, a governance structure that supports public and voluntary private projects, establishes a state registry and information platform, and provides for diverse incentive mechanisms, including direct payments, technical assistance, certifications, awards, environmental education, green bonds, and support for agroforestry initiatives.