Payments for environmental services (PES) programs have been implemented during the last 10 years in Mexico, and nearly 20 percent of the beneficiaries are indigenous communities; however, little has been said regarding the impact of these interventions on indigenous groups. This study analyses the link between PES outcomes and the characteristics of indigenous communities, such as identity and language, world view and territory, government, collective work and household economy. The study includes four Zapotec communities located in the state of Oaxaca. The main results suggest the importance to adapt the PES programme to indigenous communities that preserve their identity and language; and the possibility that PES programme is crowding in the relation between household and natural resources and certain variables related to government and collective work.
