Market-based conservation instruments, such as Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), have become a dominant paradigm for environmental policies. Despite their broad endorsement, the implementation of PES schemes often rests on deep-seated power asymmetries and, therefore, risks reproducing existing inequalities. Thus, examination of PES should include how these schemes are constructed and negotiated between different actors, explicitly recognising their varying social positions, value frameworks and conflicting or collaborative relations. In this article we present a ‘PES simulation game’ as an alternative methodology to enhance understanding of complex negotiations between diverse actors involved in Ecosystem Services (ES) governance. The game mimics historical processes of agrarian change and social differentiation, simulates a range of ES governance interventions, and creates space for participants to collectively reflect on the motivational and socio-political dynamics triggered by the interventions. We discuss some of the main game dynamics as well as reflections generated by the game while examining a PES intervention in the Nicaraguan agricultural frontier. We illustrate the game’s potential for improving understanding of farmers’ constraints in decision-making processes and of the ways in which patron-client relationships within divergent value systems interact with specific ES governance interventions.

基于市场的保护手段，例如生态系统服务付款（PES），已成为环境政策的主要范例。尽管获得了广泛认可，但PES计划的实施通常取决于根深蒂固的功率不对称性，因此，存在重现现有不平等现象的风险。因此，对PES的审查应包括如何在不同行为者之间构建和协商这些计划，明确承认其不同的社会地位，价值框架以及冲突或协作关系。在本文中，我们介绍了一种“ PES模拟游戏”，作为一种替代方法，可增强人们对参与生态系统服务（ES）治理的不同参与者之间复杂谈判的理解。该游戏模仿了土地变化和社会分化的历史过程，模拟一系列的ES治理干预措施，并为参与者创造空间，以集体反思干预措施触发的动机和社会政治动态。我们在考察尼加拉瓜农业前沿的PES干预时，讨论了一些主要的游戏动态以及游戏产生的反射。我们说明了该游戏的潜力，可以增进人们对农民在决策过程中的约束以及在不同价值体系内顾客与客户之间的关系与特定的ES治理干预措施相互作用的理解。我们在考察尼加拉瓜农业前沿的PES干预时，讨论了一些主要的游戏动态以及游戏产生的反射。我们说明了该游戏的潜力，可以增进人们对农民在决策过程中的约束以及在不同价值体系内顾客与客户之间的关系与特定的ES治理干预措施相互作用的理解。我们在考察尼加拉瓜农业前沿的PES干预时，讨论了一些主要的游戏动态以及游戏产生的反射。我们说明了该游戏的潜力，可以增进人们对农民在决策过程中的约束以及在不同价值体系内顾客与客户之间的关系与特定的ES治理干预措施相互作用的理解。