Do payments for forest ecosystem services generate double dividends? An integrated impact assessment of Vietnam's PES program

PLoS One. 2018 Aug 1;13(8):e0200881. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200881. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) often serve multiple objectives, such as carbon emission reduction and poverty alleviation. However, the effectiveness of PES as an instrument to achieve these multiple objectives, in particular in a conservation-development context, is often questioned. This study adds to the very limited empirical evidence base and investigates to what extent Vietnam's move to PES has helped protect forest ecosystems and improve local livelihoods and income inequality. We zoom in on Lam Dong province, where PES was first introduced in Vietnam in 2009. Changes in forest cover are analysed using satellite images over a period of 15 years (2000-2014). Socio-economic impacts are assessed based on rural household interviews with PES participants and non-participants as a control group over a period of 7 years (2008-2014). Our results show that PES contributes significantly to forest cover, the improvement of local livelihoods, and the reduction of income inequality.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Conservation of Natural Resources / economics*
  • Conservation of Natural Resources / methods*
  • Farmers
  • Forests*
  • Humans
  • Models, Econometric
  • Rural Population
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Vietnam

Grants and funding

The work presented in this paper was funded by the Innovation Research Incentives Scheme (VIDI) of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (Grant agreement no. 244065). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.