Impact of Costa Rica's Program of Payments for Environmental Services on Land Use

Costa Rica's Program of Payments for Environmental Services (Pago de Servicios Ambientales, PSA) provides a unique opportunity to evaluate direct payments as a conservation policy tool. This paper reports evidence on how much more forest has been conserved in Costa Rica as a result of PSA contracts with landowners. Such evidence requires estimating a counterfactual outcome: how much forest would have been preserved if there had been no payments. By applying rigorous program evaluation methods that have been recommended for identifying the causal effects of conservation policies, we find that the PSA program does result in a small but statistically significant increase in the area of forest conserved.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Sills, Erin, Arriagada, Rodrigo, Ferraro, Paul, Pattanayak, Subhrendu, Carrasco, Luis, Ortiz, Edgar, Cordero, Silvia, Caldwell, Katie, Andam, Kwaw
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2008-10
Subjects:	AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS, AGGREGATE LEVEL, AGRICULTURAL LAND, AGRICULTURAL LAND USE, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, AGRICULTURE, AGROFORESTRY, AREA OF FOREST, AREAS OF FOREST, ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION, BASELINE FOREST, BIODIVERSITY, BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION, BUFFER ZONES, BURNING, CATTLE, CENSUS DATA, CLIMATE, CLIMATE CHANGE, CLOUD COVER, CO, COLLECTIVE ACTION, COLORS, COMMUNITY FORESTRY, COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, CONSERVATION AREAS, CONSERVATION ASSESSMENT, CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, CONSERVATION ORGANIZATIONS, CONSERVATION POLICIES, CONSERVATION POLICY, CONSERVATION PROGRAMS, CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY, CORDILLERA, CULTIVATION, DEFORESTATION, DEFORESTATION RATE, DEFORESTATION RATES, DETERMINANT, DETERMINANTS, ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC FACTORS, ECONOMICS, ECONOMISTS, ECOSYSTEM, ECOSYSTEM PROTECTION, ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, ECOSYSTEMS, EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS, ENCROACHMENT, ENDANGERED SPECIES, ENVIRONMENTAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY, ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL, ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS, ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS, ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES, ENVIRONMENTAL PREFERENCES, ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE, ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, ENVIRONMENTALISM, EXPENDITURES, FARMS, FENCED, FIELD SURVEY, FISHERIES, FOREST, FOREST AREA, FOREST AREAS, FOREST CONSERVATION, FOREST COVER, FOREST DISTURBANCE, FOREST ECOSYSTEMS, FOREST FRAGMENTATION, FOREST LOSS, FOREST MANAGEMENT, FOREST MANAGEMENT PLAN, FOREST MANAGEMENT PLANS, FOREST PLANTATION, FOREST PLANTATIONS, FOREST PROTECTION, FOREST QUALITY, FOREST STEWARDSHIP, FOREST STRATEGY, FOREST USE, FORESTRY, GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY, GOLD, HABITAT PROTECTION, HUNTERS, IMPACTS ON ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, LABOR FORCE, LAND COVER, LAND ECONOMICS, LAND TENURE, LAND USE, LAND USE DECISIONS, LANDOWNER, LANDSCAPE, LIVESTOCK, MARGINAL BENEFITS, MARKET INSTRUMENTS, NATURAL RESOURCE, NATURAL RESOURCES, NEGATIVE IMPACTS, OPTION VALUE, PASTURE, PLANTATION FORESTRY, POPULATION DENSITIES, POPULATION DENSITY, PRIMARY FOREST, PROPERTY RIGHTS, PUBLIC GOODS, QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS, QUOTAS, REFORESTATION, ROAD NETWORK, ROADS, SILVER, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, SUSTAINABLE FOREST, SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT, SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY, SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT, TIMBER, TOURISM, TROPICAL FORESTS, WATERSHED, WOOD, WOOD PRODUCTION,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/10/19304445/impact-costa-ricas-program-payments-environmental-services-land-use https://hdl.handle.net/10986/17893
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