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Assessing the potential for synergies in the implementation of payments for environmental services programmes: an empirical analysis of Costa Rica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

WEI ZHANG  and
STEFANO PAGIOLA
WEI ZHANG*
Affiliation:
Environment and Production Technology Division, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 2033 K Street NW, Washington DC 20006, USA
STEFANO PAGIOLA
Affiliation:
Latin America Sustainable Development Department, World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433, USA
*
*Correspondence: Dr Wei Zhang e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
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Summary

Payments for environmental services (PES) have been recognized as a promising mechanism for conservation, with the potential to contribute to social objectives such as poverty reduction. This paper outlines a simple framework for assessing the potential for synergies in the implementation of PES programmes, used to analyse the new watershed conservation funding (WCF) channelled through Costa Rica's national PES programme, Pago por Servicios Ambientales (PSA). The WCF financing can only be used in a limited number of watersheds. Given this constraint, the paper examines the mechanisms by which the WCF may potentially contribute to biodiversity conservation and to reducing social development gaps. Although there is significant spatial correlation among the priority areas targeted for the objectives of watershed conservation, biodiversity conservation and social development, the availability of the WCF per unit of land in most watersheds is limited compared to the PSA programme's prevailing payment rate of US$ 64 ha−1, potentially hindering the impact of the WCF on conservation and social development. The analysis helps guide the allocation of the PSA budget in a way that complements the WCF and improves the cost-effectiveness of the PSA budget.

Keywords

biodiversity conservationCosta Ricapayments for ecosystem services (PES)poverty reductionspatial correlationsynergywatershed conservation
Type
THEMATIC SECTION: Payments for Ecosystem Services in Conservation: Performance and Prospects
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 38 , Issue 4: Thematic section. Payments for Ecosystem Services in Conservation: Performance and Prospects , December 2011 , pp. 406 - 416
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2011

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