Payment for Ecosystem Services from Forests

47 Pages Posted: 24 May 2014

See all articles by Jennifer Alix‐Garcia

Jennifer Alix‐Garcia

University of San Francisco - College of Arts & Sciences

Hendrik Wolff

University of Washington - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Abstract

Every year between 2000 and 2010, our planet lost native forests roughly the size of Costa Rica. (FAO, 2010). This rapid deforestation has dramatically changed the chemical composition of the world's atmosphere, the level of biodiversity, and the presence of vegetation key to maintaining watershed function and preventing landslides. There has been a boom in the design of local and international policy instruments to prevent further deforestation and encourage forest growth. This paper reviews the theory and evidence surrounding forest-related Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes intended to slow and reverse deforestation. We cover the most recent work touching on a range of issues related to PES programs, including research on targeting, contract design, environmental effectiveness, challenges to program implementation, spillovers, and distributional considerations of conditional cash transfers. We also highlight areas of potential future research.

Keywords: environmental policy, deforestation, afforestation, reforestation, climate change, conditional cash transfers, PES

JEL Classification: H23, H43, J43, Q23

Suggested Citation

Alix-Garcia, Jennifer and Wolff, Hendrik, Payment for Ecosystem Services from Forests. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8179, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2441475 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2441475

Jennifer Alix-Garcia (Contact Author)

University of San Francisco - College of Arts & Sciences ( email )

San Francisco, CA 94117
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.usfca.edu/artsci/fac_staff/A/alix-garcia_jennifer.html

Hendrik Wolff

University of Washington - Department of Economics

Box 353330
Seattle, WA 98195-3330
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
265
Abstract Views
1,287
Rank
210,024
PlumX Metrics