Using payment for ecosystem services to meet national reforestation commitments: impacts of 20+ years of forestry incentives in Guatemala
International environmental initiatives, such as the Bonn Challenge and the UN Decade on Restoration, have prompted countries to put the management and restoration of forest landscapes at the center of their land use and climate policies. To support these goals, many governments are promoting forest...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf602 |
| _version_ | 1797672972884901888 |
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| author | Evan Patrick Van Butsic Matthew D Potts |
| author_facet | Evan Patrick Van Butsic Matthew D Potts |
| author_sort | Evan Patrick |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | International environmental initiatives, such as the Bonn Challenge and the UN Decade on Restoration, have prompted countries to put the management and restoration of forest landscapes at the center of their land use and climate policies. To support these goals, many governments are promoting forest landscape restoration and management through financial forestry incentives, a form of payment for ecosystem services. Since 1996, Guatemala has implemented a series of forestry incentives that promote active forest landscape restoration and management on private and communal lands. These programs have been widely hailed as a success with nearly 600 000 ha enrolled since 1998. However, there has been no systematic assessment of the effectiveness of these programs on preserving and restoring Guatemalan forests. This study evaluates the impacts of over 16 000 individual PES projects funded through two incentive programs using a synthetic control counterfactual. Overall, a program for smallholders resulted in lower rates of forest loss, while a program for industrial timber owners led to greater gains in forest cover. Across policies, we found dramatically higher forest cover increases from restoration projects (15% forest cover increase) compared to plantation and agroforestry projects (3%–6% increase in forest cover). Projects that protected natural forest also showed a 6% reduction in forest loss. We found forest cover increases to be under 10% of total enrolled area, although positive local spillovers suggest this is an underestimate. Restoration projects show the most promise at promoting forest landscape restoration, but these benefits need to be weighed against priorities like resilience and rural development, which may be better served by other projects. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T21:38:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8391e9593b9944da8e7e807852137a47 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T21:38:49Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-8391e9593b9944da8e7e807852137a472023-09-26T14:55:34ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262023-01-01181010403010.1088/1748-9326/acf602Using payment for ecosystem services to meet national reforestation commitments: impacts of 20+ years of forestry incentives in GuatemalaEvan Patrick0https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9539-021XVan Butsic1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6236-7313Matthew D Potts2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7442-3944Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California , Berkeley, CA, United States of AmericaEnvironmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California , Berkeley, CA, United States of AmericaEnvironmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California , Berkeley, CA, United States of AmericaInternational environmental initiatives, such as the Bonn Challenge and the UN Decade on Restoration, have prompted countries to put the management and restoration of forest landscapes at the center of their land use and climate policies. To support these goals, many governments are promoting forest landscape restoration and management through financial forestry incentives, a form of payment for ecosystem services. Since 1996, Guatemala has implemented a series of forestry incentives that promote active forest landscape restoration and management on private and communal lands. These programs have been widely hailed as a success with nearly 600 000 ha enrolled since 1998. However, there has been no systematic assessment of the effectiveness of these programs on preserving and restoring Guatemalan forests. This study evaluates the impacts of over 16 000 individual PES projects funded through two incentive programs using a synthetic control counterfactual. Overall, a program for smallholders resulted in lower rates of forest loss, while a program for industrial timber owners led to greater gains in forest cover. Across policies, we found dramatically higher forest cover increases from restoration projects (15% forest cover increase) compared to plantation and agroforestry projects (3%–6% increase in forest cover). Projects that protected natural forest also showed a 6% reduction in forest loss. We found forest cover increases to be under 10% of total enrolled area, although positive local spillovers suggest this is an underestimate. Restoration projects show the most promise at promoting forest landscape restoration, but these benefits need to be weighed against priorities like resilience and rural development, which may be better served by other projects.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf602payment for ecosystem servicessynthetic controlsreforestationforest landscape restorationsmallholdersplantations |
| spellingShingle | Evan Patrick Van Butsic Matthew D Potts Using payment for ecosystem services to meet national reforestation commitments: impacts of 20+ years of forestry incentives in Guatemala Environmental Research Letters payment for ecosystem services synthetic controls reforestation forest landscape restoration smallholders plantations |
| title | Using payment for ecosystem services to meet national reforestation commitments: impacts of 20+ years of forestry incentives in Guatemala |
| title_full | Using payment for ecosystem services to meet national reforestation commitments: impacts of 20+ years of forestry incentives in Guatemala |
| title_fullStr | Using payment for ecosystem services to meet national reforestation commitments: impacts of 20+ years of forestry incentives in Guatemala |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using payment for ecosystem services to meet national reforestation commitments: impacts of 20+ years of forestry incentives in Guatemala |
| title_short | Using payment for ecosystem services to meet national reforestation commitments: impacts of 20+ years of forestry incentives in Guatemala |
| title_sort | using payment for ecosystem services to meet national reforestation commitments impacts of 20 years of forestry incentives in guatemala |
| topic | payment for ecosystem services synthetic controls reforestation forest landscape restoration smallholders plantations |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acf602 |
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