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Abstract
Despite the popularity of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes as a new paradigm to enhance conservation of natural resources, evidence of their benefits to people and nature is often illustrated from desk-based reviews, but rarely investigated from the local sites where they have been implemented. We investigated local perceptions of a PES scheme implemented in the Baie des Assassin’s mangroves of southwest Madagascar with particular focus on its perceived future effects. To meet our goal, we first collated socioeconomic and mangrove ecological information through extensive literature research, and key informant interviews with 35 peoples within the 10 villages surrounding the bay to be used as reference conditions. Following this, a workshop with 32 participants from local communities was conducted, using participatory scenario planning to predict the effects of the PES project, and to identify concerns surrounding its implementation. Local communities perceived the PES scheme as a potentially valuable approach for the sustainable management of their mangroves, and perceived that it would address major socioeconomic issues and mangrove management problems in the bay as a result of the carbon offsetting from their mangroves. We conclude that to achieve acceptance and good governance of a PES project by local communities, needs and concerns surrounding the implementation of the PES project need be addressed.
Highlights
Due to growing population and global economic pressures, the world is currently faced with an unprecedented decline in biodiversity [1]
Forest carbon sequestration payments as part of the Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) program are currently gaining increasing attention [6] because carbon emissions from tropical deforestation and degradation contribute to 4.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, which has been estimated to be around 8 to 15% of annual global anthropogenic carbon emissions [7]
Countries in the coastal tropics have recently focused on the development of market-based solutions like Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) [8] where remote and inhabited sites are often considered models of pristine ecosystems [9] that may attract billions of dollars of conservation funds above and beyond all current investments in forest conservation [10]
Summary
Due to growing population and global economic pressures, the world is currently faced with an unprecedented decline in biodiversity [1]. This in turn impacts ecosystem services, which are essential for human survival [2]. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes are gaining popularity as an important mechanism to secure the protection and sustainable use of ecosystems. Countries in the coastal tropics have recently focused on the development of market-based solutions like PES [8] where remote and inhabited sites are often considered models of pristine ecosystems [9] that may attract billions of dollars of conservation funds above and beyond all current investments in forest conservation [10]. The Paris Climate Accord, signed in December 2015, promised billions of dollars to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions with a particular emphasis on forest conservation [11]
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