Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are a popular conservation instrument in the Global South. However, little is known about how evolving PES design features affect local institutions and collective participation dynamics. Drawing on long-term field research spanning over a decade, we address this gap by investigating the evolution of PES design features and local responses by community participants in 10 communities of Selva Lacandona, state of Chiapas, Mexico. We show that Mexican PES programmes have shifted their goals over time, progressively adding productive, organisational, and social inclusion concerns to their main goal of forest conservation. We document a set of local responses to such PES design changes, namely: i) efforts to secure sustained programme access; ii) adaptations to local benefit-sharing and participation agreements; and iii) discontinuities in enrolment triggered by specific changes in design features. We also show that participants’ interests and practices align with PES forest protection goals but reflect a partial involvement of the community (or constrained collective action) in conservation affairs. Overall, our findings illustrate the dynamic interplay and resulting (mis)alignments between PES goals, outcomes, and participants’ practices and interests.

生态系统服务付款（PES）是全球南方流行的保护手段。但是，关于不断演变的PES设计功能如何影响本地机构和集体参与动力的知之甚少。借助十年来的长期现场研究，我们通过调查PES设计功能的演变以及墨西哥恰帕斯州Selva Lacandona的10个社区的社区参与者的当地回应来解决这一差距。我们证明，墨西哥的PES计划已随着时间的推移改变了目标，将生产性，组织性和社会包容性问题逐步添加到其森林保护的主要目标中。我们记录了一系列针对此类PES设计更改的本地对策，即：i）为确保持续的计划访问而做出的努力；ii）适应当地的利益分享和参与协议；iii）因设计特征的特定变化而导致的注册不连续。我们还表明，参与者的兴趣和做法符合PES森林保护目标，但反映出社区在保护事务中的部分参与（或集体行动受约束）。总体而言，我们的发现说明了PES目标，结果以及参与者的实践和兴趣之间的动态相互作用以及由此产生的（错）一致。