Assessing Socio-Economic Factors Affecting the Implementation of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Mechanism

Beeju Poudyal,Suraj Upadhaya,Suman Acharya,Bir Bahadur Khanal Chhetri

doi:10.3390/world2010006

Beeju Poudyal, Suraj Upadhaya + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/world2010006

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Journal: World	Publication Date: Feb 5, 2021
Citations: 3	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Iowa State University, Pokhara University

Abstract

The Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) mechanism has been pursued as a means to provide incentives for achieving conservation goals while also promoting rural development by alleviating poverty. However, the degree to which these goals are met depends on the implementation of the programs, which depends on the desirability and accessibility of programs targeting rural communities. Understanding the factors motivating or dissuading PES is vital for successful implementation. This paper evaluated the determinants of locals’ preference for PES implementation in the Begnas Lake Watershed. We interviewed 180 residents representing upstream and downstream. Factors such as income, the distance between house and lake, knowledge about PES, education, and duration of living in the area significantly determined locals’ attitude towards PES implementation. Their decision to take a stake in the PES program, if implemented, was influenced by income, family size, the distance between house and lake, education, and knowledge about PES. The majority of the household prefer community forestry as an institution and indirect payment as a compensation mechanism. The study suggests that the implementation of PES can contribute to uplifting the livelihood of local communities and conservation of Begnas lake watershed. The study further recommends the involvement of multi-stakeholders for ground-level awareness.

Highlights

The ecosystem provides different goods and services to human society ranging from local, regional, and global scales on which human communities greatly depend on, directly or indirectly, for their livelihoods [1]
Like other watersheds, Begnas Lake provides all major types of ecosystem services, which include supporting, regulatory, cultural, and provisioning services (Table 2)
We found a negative correlation between family size and interest in taking a stake in Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) mechanisms (Table 4)

Summary

Introduction

The ecosystem provides different goods and services to human society ranging from local, regional, and global scales on which human communities greatly depend on, directly or indirectly, for their livelihoods [1]. A growing scarcity of the services, increasing pressure on ecosystems (in combination with decreasing interest in ecosystem management and conservation), has led to an outbreak of conservation innovations in the form of payment schemes [7,8]. The Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) program has received global attention as an innovative conservation approach promoting sustainable natural resource management and enhancing locals’ livelihood through developing PES mechanisms [5,7,9,10,11]. PES is considered as a promising free-market-based approach designed to conserve the natural environment, in which the

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