Evaluation of the Permanence of Land Use Change Induced by Payments for Environmental Services in Quindío, Colombia

The effectiveness of conservation interventions such as Payments for Environmental Services (PES) is often evaluated, if it is evaluated at all, only at the completion of the intervention. Since gains achieved by the intervention may be lost after it ends, even apparently successful interventions may not result in long-term conservation benefits, a problem known as that of permanence. This paper uses a unique dataset to examine the permanence of land use change induced by a short-term PES program implemented in Quindío, Colombia, between 2003 and 2008. This the first PES program to have a control group for comparison. Under this program, PES had been found to have a positive and highly significant impact on land use. To assess the long-term permanence of these changes, both PES recipients and control households were re-surveyed in 2011, four years after the last payment was made. We find that the land use changes that had been induced by PES were broadly sustained in intervening years, with minor differences across specific practices and sub-groups of participants. The patterns of change in the period after the PES program was completed also help better understand the reasons for the program s success. These results suggest that, at least in the case of productive land uses such as silvopastoral practices, PES programs can be effective at encouraging land owners to adopt environmentally-beneficial management practices and that the benefits will persist after payments cease.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Pagiola, Stefano, Honey-Rosés, Jordi, Freire-González, Jaume
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2014-09
Subjects:	PAYMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES (PES), IMPACT EVALUATION, LIVESTOCK, SILVOPASTORAL, COLOMBIA PAYMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES (PES), COLOMBIA, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, AGRICULTURE, AGROFORESTRY, AIR POLLUTION, ARTHROPOD SPECIES, BAMBOO, BASELINE DATA, BASELINE SURVEY, BIODIVERSITY, BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION, BIODIVERSITY INDEX, BIODIVERSITY POLICY, BIOMASS, BREEDING, BUTTERFLY, CANOPY, CARBON, CATTLE, CHANGES IN LAND USE, CLEAN WATER, CLIMATE, CLIMATE CHANGE, COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS, CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES, CONSERVATION BENEFITS, CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, CONSERVATION INITIATIVES, CONSERVATION INTERVENTIONS, CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY, CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY, CORDILLERA, DEFORESTATION, DEGRADED ECOSYSTEMS, DEGRADED PASTURE, DEGRADED PASTURES, ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS, ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS, ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, ECOSYSTEM, ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT, ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, EMISSIONS, EMISSIONS FROM DEFORESTATION, EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS, ENVIRONMENTAL, ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS, ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS, ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMIST, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE, ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, ENVIRONMENTS, EXTERNALITY, FARMS, FENCE, FENCES, FENCING, FISHER, FODDER, FOLIAGE, FOREST, FOREST CONSERVATION, FOREST COVER, FOREST DEGRADATION, FOREST LOSS, FOREST MARGINS, FOREST REMNANTS, FORESTS, FUELWOOD, GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY, ISSUES, LAND AREA, LAND CONVERSION, LAND CONVERSION PROGRAM, LAND ECONOMICS, LAND OWNERS, LAND USE, LAND USE CHANGE, LAND USE CHANGES, LAND USE DECISIONS, LAND USERS, LAND USES, LANDSCAPE, LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY, NATURAL HABITAT, NATURAL RESOURCES, OPEN ACCESS, OXEN, PARTNERSHIP, PASTURE, PASTURES, PLANTING, POLICY INSTRUMENTS, PRESENT VALUE, PRIMARY FOREST, PRODUCERS, RECYCLING, REDUCING EMISSIONS, REFUGE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, SAVANNAS, SEA, SEA LEVEL, SECONDARY FORESTS, SOIL, SOIL EROSION, SPILLAGE, SUSTAINABLE BENEFITS, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, TIMBER, TIMBER PLANTATIONS, TREE, TREES, TROPICAL DEFORESTATION, TROPICAL FOREST, TROPICAL FORESTS, VEGETATION, WATERSHED, WILD BIRDS, WILDLIFE, WILDLIFE SPECIES,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/ https://hdl.handle.net/10986/21039
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