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Private PES schemes do not require a specific legal framework beyond basic contract law, but they are usually limited to local water problems. However, scaling their positive results up through a nested approach may require a specific policy and legal framework. PES trading schemes require a specific legal framework as they are rather complex and usually need to be established at the regional or national scale. An appropriate legislative framework which regulates public PES schemes has the potential to stimulate the development of trustworthy markets and to ensure good governance.

This introduction provides an overview and commentary on the papers in a special issue of PARKS, which is devoted to the impact and implications of COVID-19 on the world’s protected and conserved areas. It describes how 11 peerreviewed papers and 14 essays have brought together the knowledge and findings of numerous experts from all parts of the world, supported by several wide-ranging surveys. The resulting global synthesis of experience answers some key questions: why did the pandemic occur? what has it meant for protected and conserved areas, and the people that depend on them? what were the underlying reasons for the disaster we now face? and how can we avoid this happening again? We applaud the international effort to combat the disease but suggest that humanity urgently needs to devote as much effort to addressing the root causes of the pandemic – our fractured relationship to nature. Unless we repair it, humanity will face consequences even worse than this pandemic.