The adoption of wildlife practices through a payments-for-environmental-services (PES) agri-environment scheme

Abstract

ABSTRACT We examined an agri-environment scheme employing payments for environmental services (PES) to promote conservation practices on working agricultural lands. Our goal was to identify key factors supporting (and impeding) participation and the adoption of ‘best management practices’ (BMPs), with a focus on wildlife practices. We used scheme-contract records and grower surveys to develop regression models analyzing each decision. Model predictors represented growers’ ability and their willingness to participate and adopt BMPs. Results showed that external rewards alone promoted participation as well as the adoption of production-oriented BMPs, but both external incentives and internal, non-economic motivations were critical for wildlife practices. These results affirm the view that PES-based incentives are necessary, but insufficient for wildlife-practice adoption. In addition, we add two wildlife-specific motivations to the conservation-adoption literature’s typology: a sense of responsibility among hunters to steward wildlife, and a desire to foster a positive societal perception of farming through wildlife stewardship.