eng Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Environmental Protection 2328-7233 2015-01-11 3 1 5 11 10.12691/env-3-1-2 ENV2014312 article Adir Ubaldo Rech aurech@ucs.br 1 Professor of Environmental Urbanistic Law of the Master's Program on Environmental Law at Caxias do Sul University, Caxias do Sul - Brazil Environmental services potentially available in nature, such as the air that we breathe, the water we drink, etc. are indispensable to assure an ecologically balanced environment and the preservation of biodiversity as elements of sustainability and assurance of human life and dignity. Since man needs and tends to occupy every space for dwelling and for the production of food, it is necessary to define and designate spaces to be preserved, aiming to guarantee fulfillment of these essential functions of nature, which we call environmental services. The instrument to organize such spaces is sought for in Law - environmental zoning - and payment for environmental services as a means of effective guardianship of the environment bounded by such zoning is described. http://pubs.sciepub.com/env/3/1/2/env-3-1-2.pdf nature environmental zoning payment for environmental services