Different intervention mechanisms are proposed to transform agricultural landscapes so that they fulfill multiple functions, compatible with sustainable development goals. In the case of climate change mitigation and adaptation, support policies and direct payments to affected populations are promoted as part of REDD+ initiatives. These interventions attempt to balance the provision of multiple ecosystem services with the maintenance or improvement of local livelihoods. In this paper, we explore the role that participatory evaluation can play in the implementation of payments for ecosystem services in rural communities in Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam and China. Engaged in a process of rapid integration into the market economy, these communities have been transforming their traditional Slash-and-burn systems in recent years and followed different paths of agricultural intensification. The positive or negative assessment of these developments is necessarily subject to value judgements in the choices made between different options. Ecosystem services allow for the comparison of landscape trajectories. Village communities explored scenarios for the evolution of their local agriculture, negotiated trade-offs between ecosystem services and identified potential "winners"and "losers". These simulations showed the importance of the timing of REDD+ programs in relation to ongoing agrarian transformations. They point to the risk of moving away from the initial ambitions related to the carbon ecosystem service to become an additional instrument for sustainable development.