How effective are biodiversity conservation payments in Mexico?
Costedoat, Sébastien (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Corbera, Esteve (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Ezzine-de-Blas, Driss (Center International en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Montpellier, França))
Honey-Rosés, Jordi (University of British Columbia. School of Community and Regional Planning)
Baylis, Kathy (University of Illinois. Agriculture and Consumer Economics Department)
Castillo-Santiago, Miguel Angel (El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mèxic). Laboratorio de Análisis de Información Geográfica)

Date:	2015
Abstract:	We assess the additional forest cover protected by 13 rural communities located in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico, as a result of the economic incentives received through the country's national program of payments for biodiversity conservation. We use spatially explicit data at the intra-community level to define a credible counterfactual of conservation outcomes. We use covariate-matching specifications associated with spatially explicit variables and difference-in-difference estimators to determine the treatment effect. We estimate that the additional conservation represents between 12 and 14. 7 percent of forest area enrolled in the program in comparison to control areas. Despite this high degree of additionality, we also observe lack of compliance in some plots participating in the PES program. This lack of compliance casts doubt on the ability of payments alone to guarantee long-term additionality in context of high deforestation rates, even with an augmented program budget or extension of participation to communities not yet enrolled.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad RYC-2010-07183
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Forests ; Conservation science ; Payment ; Biodiversity ; Land use ; Mexico ; Rainforests ; Ecosystems
Published in:	PloS one, Vol. 10, Issue 3 (March 2015) , p. e0119881, ISSN 1932-6203

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119881
PMID: 25807118

20 p, 1.5 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles