This study aims to investigate if the Payment for Environmental Services (PES), in some formats and contexts of development, can help building environmental rationality (Leff). In this light, the initial of the essay are the economic instruments of environmental management aimed at correcting market failures. In sequence, the different patterns of PES programs in Brazil are analyzed. In this context, it is argued if PES is chained to a policy of environmental precification (in a monetary sense) or if PES is an economic incentive (positive sanction). Towards the end of the present article, it is argued about a possible approximation of PES and the concepts of ecological rationalization. The methodology used in this article is based in literature review and document analysis.