How financial mechanisms can incentivize provision of ecosystem services from land restoration: A systematic review protocol

PLoS One. 2023 Jul 24;18(7):e0289120. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289120. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

The current food chain both contributes to, and is affected by, climate change. While GHG emissions and emissions to water and soil are a problem for the whole food chain, the majority of such emissions and the major solutions to them can be found in the farming and land use sector. The farming system needs to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions and adapt its supply chain to cope with climate change. A broad variety of payment tools have been proposed to motivate farmers and landowners to take certain actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage the protection or restoration of natural resources. The protocol described here (OSF preregistration https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/STGQ6) outlines the methodology for a systematic review to explore how financial mechanisms such as green bonds can provide incentives to agri-food sector to support environmental sustainability and ecosystem service delivery through land-use change. Our primary research question is: how do financial mechanisms incentivize land restoration? Studies will be categorized according to the types of financial mechanisms, their characteristics, methods of land restoration and their impact on mitigating agri-food footprint. The results are expected to increase our understanding about the design of financing tools currently used to accelerate nature restoration. Moreover, they will inform us about the effectiveness of deploying such tools on rural communities, food companies and landowners.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Agriculture / methods
  • Conservation of Natural Resources / methods
  • Ecosystem*
  • Greenhouse Effect
  • Greenhouse Gases*
  • Soil / chemistry
  • Systematic Reviews as Topic

Substances

  • Soil
  • Greenhouse Gases

Grants and funding

This systematic review is funded by the HEA North-South Research Programme. This a collaborative scheme arising from the Government’s Shared Island initiative which, among other objectives, includes working with the Northern Ireland Executive and the British Government to address shared strategic challenges faced on the island of Ireland. The funders will not have a role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.