Policy lessons from spatiotemporal enrollment patterns of payment for ecosystem service programs in Argentina

• Autores: Núñez-Regueiro, Mauricio M.; Hiller, Josh; Branch, Lyn C.; Núñez Godoy, Cristina; Siddiqui, Sharmin; Volante, Jose Norberto; Soto, José R.
• Año de publicación: 2020
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Fuente: Land Use Policy 95 : 104596 (June 2020)
• Materia: Servicios de los Ecosistemas; Pago por Servicios Ecosistémicos; Políticas; Ecosystem Services; Payments for Ecosystem Services; Policies; Argentina
• Institución: Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria

Payment for ecosystem services schemes (PES) are lauded as a market-based solution to curtail deforestation and restore degraded ecosystems. However, PES programs often fail to conserve sites under strong long-term deforestation pressures. Underperformance, in part, is likely due to adverse selection. Spatial adverse selection occurs when landowners are more likely to enroll parcels with low deforestation pressure than parcels with high deforestation pressure. Temporal adverse selection arises when parcels are enrolled for short time periods. In both cases, financial resources are allocated without having a sizeable impact on long-term land use change. Improving program performance to overcome these shortcomings requires understanding attributes of landowners and their parcels across large scales to identify spatial and temporal enrollment patterns that drive adverse selection. In this paper, we examine these patterns in Argentina’s PES program in Chaco forest, a global deforestation hotspot. Our study area covers 252,319 km2. Results from multinomial logistic regression models showed that large parcels of enrolled land and parcels owned by absentee landowners exhibit greater evidence of spatiotemporal adverse selection than smaller parcels or parcels owned by local landowners. Furthermore, parcels managed under land use plans for conservation and restoration are more likely to be associated with adverse selection than parcels managed for financial returns such as harvest of non-timber forest products, silviculture, and silvopasture. However, prior to recommending that PES programs focus on land uses with higher potential earnings, a greater understanding is needed of the degree to which these land uses meet ecological and biodiversity goals of PES programs. We suggest that increased spatial targeting of enrollment, along with enrollment of local landowners and further incentives for land uses that support conservation and restoration, could promote long-term conservation of forest lands.
EEA Salta
Fil: Núñez Regueiro, Mauricio M. University of Arizona. Institute of the Environment and Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy. Bridging Biodiversity and Conservation Science; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del NOA. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del NOA; Argentina. Universidad Católica de Salta; Argentina
Fil: Hiller, Josh. Adelphi University. Department of Mathematics and Computer Science; Estados Unidos
Fil: Branch, Lyn C. University of Florida. School of Natural Resources and Environment; Estados Undos. University of Florida. Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation; Estados Unidos
Fil: Núñez Godoy, Cristina. University of Florida. School of Natural Resources and Environment; Estados Undos. University of Florida. Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation; Estados Unidos
Fil: Siddiqui, Sharmin. University of Florida. Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment. Environmental Engineering Sciences Department; Estados Unidos
Fil: Volante, Jose Norberto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Salta; Argentina
Fil: Soto, José R. University of Arizona. School of Natural Resources & The Environment; Estados Unidos