Selection biases and spillovers from collective conservation incentives in the Peruvian Amazon
Payments for ecosystem services are becoming popular components in strategies to conserve ecosystems and biodiversity, but their effectiveness remains poorly documented. Here we present counterfactual-based evidence on the conservation outcomes of the pilot stage of Peru’s National Forest Conservati...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aafc83 |
| _version_ | 1827870663574028288 |
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| author | Renzo Giudice Jan Börner Sven Wunder Elias Cisneros |
| author_facet | Renzo Giudice Jan Börner Sven Wunder Elias Cisneros |
| author_sort | Renzo Giudice |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Payments for ecosystem services are becoming popular components in strategies to conserve ecosystems and biodiversity, but their effectiveness remains poorly documented. Here we present counterfactual-based evidence on the conservation outcomes of the pilot stage of Peru’s National Forest Conservation Program (NFCP). The NFCP provides direct payments to indigenous communities in the Amazon, conditional on avoided deforestation and the adoption of sustainable production systems. Using a spatially explicit quasi-experimental evaluation design, we show that the payment scheme has achieved only small conservation impacts, in terms of avoided deforestation. Counter-intuitively, these materialized largely on land not enrolled for conservation, due to spillover effects. Conservation effects on contracted land were negligible because communities were not chosen according to high deforestation threats, and they self-enrolled low-pressure forest areas for conservation. Occasional non-sanctioned contract incompliance contributed to these outcomes. We highlight implications for the design and implementation of up-scaled national conservation programs. Methodologically, we demonstrate the important role of choosing the appropriate spatial scale in evaluating area-based conservation measures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4354cf80f04947048994501e2ae3341b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:00:27Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-4354cf80f04947048994501e2ae3341b2023-08-09T14:39:37ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262019-01-0114404500410.1088/1748-9326/aafc83Selection biases and spillovers from collective conservation incentives in the Peruvian AmazonRenzo Giudice0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3802-633XJan Börner1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3034-5360Sven Wunder2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9422-0260Elias Cisneros3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9784-9240Center for Development Research, University of Bonn , Bonn, GermanyCenter for Development Research, University of Bonn , Bonn, Germany; Institute for Food and Resource Economics, University of Bonn , Bonn, GermanyEuropean Forest Institute (EFI) , Barcelona, Spain; Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Lima, PeruDepartment of Economics, University of Göttingen , Göttingen, GermanyPayments for ecosystem services are becoming popular components in strategies to conserve ecosystems and biodiversity, but their effectiveness remains poorly documented. Here we present counterfactual-based evidence on the conservation outcomes of the pilot stage of Peru’s National Forest Conservation Program (NFCP). The NFCP provides direct payments to indigenous communities in the Amazon, conditional on avoided deforestation and the adoption of sustainable production systems. Using a spatially explicit quasi-experimental evaluation design, we show that the payment scheme has achieved only small conservation impacts, in terms of avoided deforestation. Counter-intuitively, these materialized largely on land not enrolled for conservation, due to spillover effects. Conservation effects on contracted land were negligible because communities were not chosen according to high deforestation threats, and they self-enrolled low-pressure forest areas for conservation. Occasional non-sanctioned contract incompliance contributed to these outcomes. We highlight implications for the design and implementation of up-scaled national conservation programs. Methodologically, we demonstrate the important role of choosing the appropriate spatial scale in evaluating area-based conservation measures.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aafc83impact evaluationindigenous communitiesICDPleakagePESdeforestation |
| spellingShingle | Renzo Giudice Jan Börner Sven Wunder Elias Cisneros Selection biases and spillovers from collective conservation incentives in the Peruvian Amazon Environmental Research Letters impact evaluation indigenous communities ICDP leakage PES deforestation |
| title | Selection biases and spillovers from collective conservation incentives in the Peruvian Amazon |
| title_full | Selection biases and spillovers from collective conservation incentives in the Peruvian Amazon |
| title_fullStr | Selection biases and spillovers from collective conservation incentives in the Peruvian Amazon |
| title_full_unstemmed | Selection biases and spillovers from collective conservation incentives in the Peruvian Amazon |
| title_short | Selection biases and spillovers from collective conservation incentives in the Peruvian Amazon |
| title_sort | selection biases and spillovers from collective conservation incentives in the peruvian amazon |
| topic | impact evaluation indigenous communities ICDP leakage PES deforestation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aafc83 |
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