Page 164 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

1.4 90% FIguRE 2 Forest recovery was
PSA program 80% underway in Costa Rica before the
1.2 introduced 70% PSA program began. Deforesta-
Deforestation rate (%/yr) 0.8 Percent forest cover 60% steeply, indicating that other fac-
1.0
tion rates (a) had already dropped
50%
tors were responsible. Forest cover
40%
0.6
(b) also began increasing shortly
30%
before the program’s initiation (the
0.4
0.2
from many studies). Data: From
10%
introduced
Daniels, Amy E., et al. 2010. Understand-
0.0 20% PSA program graph gathers together estimates
0%
ing the impacts of Costa Rica’s PES: Are
1960–79 1979–86 1986–97 1997–00 2000–05 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 we asking the right questions? Ecological
Economics 69: 2116–2126.
Period of years Year
(a) Deforestation decreased (b) Forest cover began increasing
Rodrigo Sierra and Eric Russman of • The PSA program was preceded by Peninsula. They found that all seven
the University of Texas at Austin found other policies that encouraged forest approaches would improve on the
in 2006 that PSA farms had five times cover (tax rebates and tax credits for existing program. The best approach
more regrowing forest than did non-PSA timber production, not ecosystem paid some landowners more than
farms. Interviews with farmers indicated services). others while selecting sites based on
that the program was encouraging them • The creation of national parks fed a the perceived value of their ecologi-
to let land grow back into forest if they boom in ecotourism, so Costa Ricans cal services and the apparent risk of
did not need it for immediate production. were seeing how conserving natural deforestation. This approach more
In the nation’s northern Carib- areas could bring economic benefits. than doubled the economic efficiency
bean plain, a team led by Wayde • Changing market prices for com- of the program.
Morse of the University of Idaho used modities discouraged ranching as To determine how much money
a diversity of methods and analyses, the price of meat fell. to offer each landowner, Wünscher’s
combining on-the-ground interviews • After an economic crisis roiled Latin team suggested using auctions, hav-
with satellite data, to produce the America in the 1980s, Costa Rica’s ing each applicant for PSA funds put
most thorough study of a region yet. government ended subsidies for in a bid stating how much they were
Their published summary in 2009 ranchers and farmers that had encour- requesting. Because applicants have
found that PSA payments plus the aged expansion into forested areas. outnumbered available contracts 3 to
clearance ban had helped to reduce 1, FONAFIFO could favor the lower
deforestation rates from 1.43%/year To help the PSA program bids to keep costs low, while the
to 0.10%/year and that the program make better use of its money, most auction system could make differen-
encouraged forest regrowth still more. researchers today feel that PSA pay- tial payments politically acceptable.
Meanwhile, dissertation work by ments should be targeted. Instead of The Costa Rican government CHAPTER 6 • Ethi C s, E C ono mi C s, A nd s ustA in A bl E dE v E lopm E nt
Rodrigo Arriagada indicated that the paying equal amounts to anyone who is responding to suggestions from
regeneration of new forest seemed to applies, FONAFIFO should prioritize researchers. It has begun aiming
be the PSA program’s major effect at applicants, or pay more money, in PSA payments toward regions of
the national level as well. regions that are ecologically most greater environmental value. To help
Most researchers today hold that valuable or that are at greatest risk of fight poverty, it has tried to make the
Costa Rica’s success in forest protection deforestation. program more accessible to small
results from a long history of conserva- In a 2008 paper in the journal low-income farmers in undeveloped
tion policies and economic develop- Ecological Economics, Tobias regions. In 2006, the government
ments. Indeed, deforestation rates had Wünscher of Bonn, Germany, and also raised the payment amounts
been dropping steeply before the PSA colleagues modeled and tested seven considerably. Researchers—and other
program was initiated (FIguRE 2). Major possible ways to target the payments, nations—will be watching closely to
reasons include the following: using data from Costa Rica’s Nicoya see how the program develops.

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