There exists a global crisis in the management of water generating a necessity for the search of sustainable alternatives. These can be mechanisms such as Payments for Hydrological Environmental Services (pes), economic tools that promote the conservation of bodies of water from the change in the paradigm of use and conservation in societies. A documented review was conducted on the implementation of PES in four countries of Latin America —Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Ecuador— to identify tools in environmental management, with the objective of proposing guidelines that optimize the application of mechanisms in Colombia. This optimization is to be achieved through a recompilation of the experiences in the development and integral analysis of these mechanisms within the social, normative, economic, and institutional context.