2002 · 24 citations · 4 references
Natural ResourcesNatural Resource EconomicsResource EconomicsForest ConservationForest EconomicsForest ManagementConservation IncentivesEcosystem Services EconomicsForest IncentivesForest Resource ManagementLand-use EconomicsReforestationConservation PaymentsForest Conservation EconomicsForest Conservation FinanceForest Degradation EconomicsForest Ecosystem RestorationForest Restoration IncentivesLand Degradation MitigationPerformance-based Conservation Funding
The most common approach to promote forest ecosystem conservation and combat land degradation is the development, introduction and promotion of sustainable production systems. Such approach is usually accompanied of indirect incentives such the acquisition of infrastructure, equipment, product marketing, temporary payments for labor, food for labor, etc. The assumption is that new technologies will be adopted, that a market for the derived products will develop, and that they will generate higher incomes to land owners, creating an incentive to maintain the forest ecosystems. An alternative approach to encouraging the conservation and restoration of forest ecosystem is to pay for conservation performance directly to private lands owners (Ferraro and Simpson, 2000). In this approach, those that benefit from the provision of environmental services, derived from land uses and production systems that improve the environment and life quality, make payments to those land owners that supply the services (i.e., to those that adopt the desired land uses and production systems). In the case of land uses such as forest management, commercial reforestation, as well as forest conservation, the payments for environmental services are additional to the incomes from forest products sales, therefore, they help to improve the irregular cash flow frequently seen in forest production systems.
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