Forest Environmental Services Research Articles

SISTEM INSENTIF JASA LINGKUNGAN DI HUTAN LARANGAN ADAT RUMBIO KABUPATEN KAMPAR, RIAU

The Indigenous Prohibited Forestof Rumbio provide benefits for the community in the form of non-timber forest products and environmental services in the form of water resources, but amid the increasing demand for land and economic demands put pressure on forests that threaten forest sustainability. Therefore, this study examines the factors that influence the participation of surrounding communities in conservation and environmental management activities and environmental services incentive system that can be adopted in the Indigenous Prohibited F orestof Rumbio. The method used in this research is survey method with questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Data analysis is descriptive using AHP method and multiple linear regression. This study result in that developed incentive programs for people around. The Indigenous Prohibited Forest of Rumbio in the framework of forest conservation are employment (24.17%), subsidy in second rank (20.15%) and improvement of conservation techniques in third rank (18. 90%). Factors that significantly influence the participation of respondents are education, knowledge, level of dependence on forests, customary institutions. Incentives are directed to the payment of environmental services by granting rights in the management of environmental services such as water use, non-timber forest product development, and tourism and education activities involving the community.

Payments for ecosystem services in Hoa Binh province, Vietnam: An institutional analysis

This study examines the institutional design and actual performance, of payments for ecosystem services (PES) in Vietnam. Taking Payments for Forest Environmental Services Program (PFES Program) implementation in Da Bac district, Hoa Binh province as a case study, it brings to light how PES program design and implementation contributed to the central government's objectives to: (1) involve stakeholders in forest management; (2) reduce the government's budget burden for forest protection; and (3) maintain political control over forest resources. In Vietnam, the PFES Program is implemented in a top-down manner. Participating households act as government-induced forest guards rather than forest owners. Incomplete design at the central-level results in poorer performance at lower levels and, the lack of strategic management makes it difficult to know whether the program has actually improved ecosystem services and forest management. While the PFES Program complements other institutions at the national- and local-levels, some institutional incompatibilities exist in terms of customary practices. It is unlikely, however, that these will develop into an institutional conflict.

Development narratives, notions of forest crisis, and boom of oil palm plantations in Indonesia

Indonesia experienced massive deforestation in the last decades where rapid oil palm expansion has been considered as one of the main drivers. This article shows that the process of deforestation and the rapid oil palm expansion cannot be viewed in isolation from broader development contexts. Various actors at local, national, and global levels have used development narratives and poverty alleviation through various policies and institutional setting to create spaces and opportunities for oil palm development. These actors also deliberately created the notion of forest crisis by omitting the values of forest environmental services to justify forest conversion into oil palm plantations. These multiple factors shaped the speed and the direction of oil palm expansion in Indonesia. This rapid oil palm expansion in Indonesia has resulted in massive LUCC and serious environmental problems. Given these complexities, a single policy will not be sufficient when it comes to managing the consequences of rapid oil palm expansion in Indonesia.

Household opportunity costs of protecting and developing forest lands in Son La and Hoa Binh Provinces, Vietnam

Vietnam has pilot-tested a payment for forest environmental services (PFES) program in an effort to restore and protect forest areas, some of which have been severely degraded by the excessive cutting of trees by small-scale farmers planting annual crops on steep, sloping lands. The pilot program implemented in southern Vietnam seems to be successful, yet the program in northern Vietnam has not produced the desired rates of planting and maintaining forest areas. The reasons for these mixed results include differences in socio-economic characteristics and also the production and marketing opportunities available to rural households in the project areas. To gain insight regarding program participation, we examine the household-level opportunity costs of planting and ­maintaining small plots of forest trees in northern Vietnam. We find that small-scale farmers in Hoa Binh Province, with limited financial resources, prefer the annual revenue stream provided by crops such as maize and cassava, rather than waiting for 7 years to obtain revenue from a forest planting. Farmers in Son La Province, with limited access to markets, prefer annual crops because they are not able to sell bamboo shoots and other forest products harvested from their small plots. In both provinces, the payments offered for planting and maintaining forest trees are smaller than the opportunity costs of planting and harvesting annual crops. Thus, most households likely would choose not to participate in the PFES program, at current payment rates, if given the opportunity to decline.

Life at the margins: The social, economic and ecological importance of mangroves

Coastal communities are dependent on the resources available in mangrove ecosystems. Despite their usefulness because of the vital ecological services they provide, mangroves are under heavy stress. The loss of these ecosystems would mean local, national and global welfare losses. Quantifying those losses accurately and using them to make more informed decisions about land use and land conversion, is a challenging task. Economic values associated with healthy mangrove ecosystems can be generated through economic analyses that attempt to measure the use and non-use values of these ecosystems. The values associated with mangroves are positive and have been used to influence policy. An optimal mangrove management strategy should recognize that the products and ecosystem services provided by mangroves can be very significant to human welfare. The creation of markets for forest environmental services allows the values of multiple-use ecosystems such as mangroves to be recognized and utilized in decision making. Taking an ecosystem approach to the management of these resources can help to understand the complexity of ecological and socio-economic processes within mangrove ecosystems. In developing countries, such analyses are essential for promoting equity and poverty alleviation. The value of mangrove ecosystems can best be realized when decision makers make the effort to accurately weigh the costs and benefits of conservation versus conversion. Projects and programs that are judged to be commercially viable must also be socially profitable.

Payments for forest-based environmental services: A close look

In this paper, I look at Payments for Environmental Services (PES) under property protection rules and in consideration of the marketability of these services. I then investigate the joint production process of timber and environmental services and identify a critical choice facing the buyers of forest environmental services—either incurring transaction costs by studying the opportunity costs of landowners and the environmental benefits their lands could provide, or losing efficiencies by paying some landowners free money and by not being able to induce socially desirable land use changes. Finally, I compare PES with other policy and market mechanisms that encourage the provisions of environmental services.

Stand structure and deadwood amount influences saproxylic fungal biodiversity in Mediterranean mountain unmanaged forests

Old-growth forests are key elements of ecosystem diversity and conservation strategies, providing niche differentiation and trophic pathways that produce structural and compositional heterogeneity. In these forests, deadwood is particularly important for saproxylic and mycorrhizal fungi, sustaining forest productivity and environmental services. In this study, the saproxylic fungal diversity in Mediterranean mountain forests, characterized by different management histories and forest types (holm oak and beech), was analyzed. The relationships between saproxylic fungal biodiversity and structural attributes were considered in three forest stands of the Apennines (Italy). In addition, descriptive environmental parameters and forest traits were related to prevailing fungal communities, in order to analyze the species composition and distribution patterns of saproxylic fungi resulting from the ordination processes. The study sites were selected on the basis of their late-serial stage of development. Species frequency was analyzed through multivariate techniques to test the relationships between fungi, structural attributes and environmental variables. A Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) was used to investigate the response of the overall fungal community structure to environmental gradients. Living tree volume, altitude, vegetation type, and the frequency of species with ephemeral sporocarp lifespan played a crucial role in diversifying species distribution patterns. Deadwood volume and decay classes were related to taxonomic and trophic community diversity. However, differences between the considered climatic regions exerted a major role on the occurrence of fungi with ephemeral sporocarps more than deadwood abundance, utilized primarily as fructification substrate.

Monitoring and evaluation of Payment for Forest Environmental Services in Vietnam: From myth to reality

Payments for Ecosystem Services schemes, or PES, offer a useful approach to account for the largely unrecognized value of ecosystem services provided by the forestry sector. However, the actual impacts of PES schemes, both in effectively protecting the environmental quality of an ecosystem, such as the water filtration capacity of a forest, and on improving local livelihoods, often remain unknown. Policy evaluation in general, and for newly established policies in particular, plays a critical role in providing essential feedback about what is actually happening on the ground. Thus, for PES to generate outcomes that are effective, efficient and equitable, policy makers must develop a functional evaluation system. As PES schemes around the world face similar problems in monitoring and evaluation, we draw on the case of Vietnam—the first country in Asia to introduce a nationwide PES scheme—and analyze the effectiveness of the monitoring and evaluation activities of the Payment for Forest Environmental Services program (PFES). We also offer practical policy recommendations for future PFES implementation. We find that monitoring and evaluation of PFES in Vietnam is still in its infancy. Although there is a strong accounting of revenues generated from ecosystem services buyers, there is a discernible lack of ability to assess the quantity and quality of ecosystem services being enhanced by the program; fulfillment of contractual obligations; the appropriateness of financial flows; or socio-economic impacts of the program. We argue that a functioning PES evaluation system must include an accessible grievance mechanism to ensure transparency and accountability in the distribution of PES revenues from central to local levels.

Importance of National Policy and Local Interpretation in Designing Payment for Forest Environmental Services Scheme for the Ta Leng River Basin in Northeast Vietnam

The Leng River basin in BacKan province, northwest Vietnam hosts critical natural resources where lessons learnt from the pilot project of payment for forest environmental services (PFES) in Lam Dong and Son La provinces can be applied. PFES is broadly defined as an economic instrument that facilitates payments of forest environmental service flows to forest dwellers. The passage of a national PFES Decree in Vietnam where the K-factor framework was used to determine the payment level of environmental services created both opportunities and challenges in the design and implementation of PFES schemes.This paper presents how the national PFES policy was adapted, and how lessons in the pilot provinces were considered in developing a local PFES scheme. Important considerations and criteria for determining K-factors to standardize payments for similar environmental services, as well as the proposed PFES scheme for the Leng River Basin are discussed. The paper concludes that national policy framework and local interpretation of K-factors are crucially important in designing a PFES scheme that meets the realistic and pro-poor elements of PES. Finally, a PFES scheme must have detailed implementing guidelines that are developed with local stakeholders.

Payment for forest environmental services: a meta-analysis of successful elements

Forest ecosystems produce environmental services from which individuals benefit. In recent decades, interest in these services has significantly increased to meet the demand for new products and services related to landscape use and recreational activities. These new products and services are defined as Non-Wood Forest Products and Services (NWFP&Ss). There is the possibility, and in certain cases the need, to introduce a system of payment for these NWFP&Ss. However, the transformation of forest environmental goods and services into commercial products and services is not a straightforward process. This paper reviews a number of successful payment mechanisms for NWFP&Ss in order to examine the elements which contribute to transforming these externalities into sources of income for people living near forests.

A Feasibility Study on Payment for Forest Environmental Services in Cambodia

A Feasibility Study on Payment for Forest Environmental Services in Cambodia

Modeling susceptibility to deforestation of remaining ecosystems in North Central Mexico with logistic regression

Determining underlying factors that foster deforestation and delineating forest areas by levels of susceptibility are of the main challenges when defining policies for forest management and planning at regional scale. The susceptibility to deforestation of remaining forest ecosystems (shrubland, temperate forest and rainforest) was conducted in the state of San Luis Potosi, located in north central Mexico. Spatial analysis techniques were used to detect the deforested areas in the study area during 1993–2007. Logistic regression was used to relate explanatory variables (such as social, investment, forest production, biophysical and proximity factors) with susceptibility to deforestation to construct predictive models with two focuses: general and by biogeographical zone. In all models, deforestation has positive correlation with distance to rainfed agriculture, and negative correlation with slope, distance to roads and distance to towns. Other variables were significant in some cases, but in others they had dual relationships, which varied in each biogeographical zone. The results show that the remaining rainforest of Huasteca region is highly susceptible to deforestation. Both approaches show that more than 70% of the current rainforest area has high and very high levels of susceptibility to deforestation. The values represent a serious concern with global warming whether tree carbon is released to atmosphere. However, after some considerations, encouraging forest environmental services appears to be the best alternative to achieve sustainable forest management.

Benefit distribution across scales to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in Vietnam

At very high policy levels, efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) are considered to be innovative and cost-effective ways to make forest more valuable standing than cut. In response to climate change, international funding to support reductions in emissions needs to balance conservation and development. The Government of Vietnam is currently coordinating the design of a comprehensive benefit-distribution system, with the ambition to convert certified net emissions reductions into REDD+ revenue and distribute it to local partners in a transparent, equitable and cost-effective manner. A pilot scheme is underway in Bac Kan province. With forest cover of 56.6% and a poverty rate of 36.6%, Bac Kan is among the most heavily forested and poorest provinces of Vietnam, making it a potential site for pioneering REDD+ schemes in the country.Research questions were how to incorporate international, national and local stakeholders’ investments into any distribution scheme; and how to sustain and manage an efficient, effective and equitable funding scheme for environmental services, including REDD+ revenues. Multiple data collection and analytical methods (including participatory approaches) were used to answer both research questions. Additionally, for the second question, we employed cost-benefit, opportunity cost and economic analyses.Three key concepts formed the research frame for this paper: (1) benefit-distribution systems; (2) reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus conservation (REDD+); and (3) the broader concept of payments or rewards for ecosystem services; as well as lessons learned from existing, similar schemes.This results shows that an appropriate benefit-sharing system for REDD+ revenues can be developed in such a way that meets international regulations as well as national and sub-national circumstances, particularly for the environmental services’ providers who directly protect forests. Vietnam's payments for forest environmental services’ and integrated conservation schemes (where conservation and rural development are integrated) serve as a base for the development of a REDD+ benefit-distribution system.We discuss ways of bundling such schemes with REDD+ ‘service’ payments and income streams from forestry and agroforestry ‘goods’ to provide short-term food-security/economic return and long-term environmental benefits. This combination is expected to provide sustainable incentives, but further effort is needed in the use of participatory methods and a ‘bottom-up’ approach to provide a strong base for an effective and equitable REDD+ mechanism at landscape level.Experience drawn from Vietnam, in general, and in Bac Kan, in particular, can be replicated and directly contribute to reducing carbon emissions globally.

Links between Mountain Communities and Environmental Services in the Italian Alps

AbstractThe aim of this study is to evaluate the importance of mountain communities in increasing the value of environmental services. The assumption of the research is that, for historical and cultural reasons there is a greater sense of local identity and social capital in alpine communities and thus greater attention to the environment. In these communities individuals with a higher level of social capital will have a greater tendency to play a tangible role in the preservation of the environment. The study concerns the municipality of Premana in the Italian Alps. We evaluated forest and alpine pasture environmental services using the contingent valuation (CV) method. We interviewed 319 randomly selected residents (14 per cent of the population), asking them about their willingness to pay or donate work hours. Their annual mean willingness to pay was €94 and €896 in working hours, respectively. The CV results, together with other data collected through the questionnaire, demonstrate that local traditions and social capital play a key role in the multifunctional management of forests and alpine pastures. We suggest that studies such as this one on the benefits evaluation of the environmental services of mountain resources might be used for the formation and implementation of better informed policies that will affect the future of mountain communities.

Concept of livelihood in the FLEGT voluntary partnership agreement and the expected impacts on the livelihood of forest communities in Ghana

SUMMARY: Strengthening of forest law enforcement is likely to impact the livelihood of forest communities. The paper discusses the concept of livelihoods in the context of the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) and the expected impacts on the livelihood of forest communities in Ghana. It builds on a literature review and an expert survey. The paper finds that the concept of livelihoods had a prominent position in the VPA negotiation phase. The VPA livelihood impacts will differ for different social groups – the impoverished groups are expected to be more affected in comparison to the wealthier groups. The following issues are identified as the most achievable in shaping the VPA livelihood impacts: improved forest resources and environmental services, reforms of the land and tree tenure system, increased transparency and accountability, and stakeholder consultation and participation in the forest management.

Stewardship agreement to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD): case study from Lubuk Beringin'sHutan Desa,Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia

SUMMARY Contested rules between the state and local communities over use and protection of forest affect environmental services and livelihood options in Indonesia's forest margins. Success in forest protection and emission reduction (REDD) requires conflict resolution. The recent village forest (Hutan Desa) regulation by the Minister of Forestry (P.49/Menhut-II/2008) details how to reconcile forest management targets and livelihood interests of forest-edge villages within the framework of a permanent forest estate. Lubuk Beringin in Bungo District, Jambi Province became the first village in Indonesia to secure such an agreement. Our analysis of process, stakes and social capital bridging local, district and national scales of Hutan Desa aims to assist in reducing transaction costs for wider application. Streamlining of rules is needed to make Hutan Desa a viable part of REDD schemes at relevant scale, and to support locally appropriate mitigation action as part of national strategies, and as co-investmen...

User financing in a national payments for environmental services program: Costa Rican hydropower

National government-funded payments for environmental services (PES) programs often lack sustainable financing and fail to target payments to providers of important environmental services. In principle, these problems can be mitigated by supplementing government financing with contributions from leading environmental service users. We use original survey data and official statistics to analyze user financing in Costa Rica's renowned national PES program, focusing on the amounts and sources of user financing, the drivers of contributions, and contributors' perceptions of the PES program. We find that user financing has supported less than 3% of the acres enrolled in the program and that hydroelectric plants are the largest private sector contributors. Large hydroelectric plants tend to contribute while small ones do not. The weight of evidence suggests that in addition to ensuring the provision of forest environmental services, hydroelectric plants' motives for contributing to the PES program include improving relations with local communities and government regulators—common drivers of participation in all manner of voluntary environmental programs. These findings raise questions about the potential of user financing to improve the efficiency and financial sustainability of national PES programs.

Forest ownership and management outcomes in the U.S., in global context

SUMMARY Land is of critical importance for provision of wood and nonwood forest products and environmental services. Ownership is a key factor influencing forest land management and protection. Most forests in the world, 86%, are in public ownership which accounts for a commensurate share of forest degradation. U.S. forest land ownership is dominated by private owners, and this has largely worked well for production and for provision of environmental services. International comparisons of forest land ownership and corresponding management outcomes indicate that private forests provide proportionally more market based goods such as wood, and that their environmental performance in terms of forest management plans, forest certification, and compliance with forest regulations appears to be similar to that of public forests. In fact, private lands have increased environmental conformance with regulations and adopted forest certification for many high production lands. Both public and private lands should more...

User Financing in a National Payments for Environmental Services Program: Costa Rican Hydropower

National government-funded payments for environmental services (PES) programs often lack sustainable financing and fail to target payments to providers of important environmental services. In principle, these problems can be mitigated by supplementing government financing with contributions from leading environmental service users. We use original survey data and official statistics to analyze user financing in Costa Rica’s renowned national PES program, focusing on the amounts and sources of user financing, the drivers of contributions, and contributors’ perceptions of the PES program. We find that user financing has supported less than three percent of the acres enrolled in the program and that hydroelectric plants are the largest private sector contributors. Large hydroelectric plants tend to contribute while small ones do not. The weight of evidence suggests that in addition to ensuring the provision of forest environmental services, hydroelectric plants’ motives for contributing to the PES program include improving relations with local communities and government regulators — common drivers of participation in all manner of voluntary environmental programs. These findings raise questions about the potential of user financing to improve the efficiency and financial sustainability of national PES programs.

Payments for forest environmental services: organisational models and related experiences in Italy

In the last decades, with the rapid structural changes in society and in consumers’ attitudes at both global and local scale, forest landowners and managers are facing a complex and multi-faceted demand, in which the role of forest services - recreation, landscape, biodiversity, C-sequestration amongst others - has become increasingly important. New forest policy tools are therefore required to create or consolidate the shift in forest management from the traditional production function towards more multi-stakeholders and multi-functional goals. On the basis of the existing theoretical background and by means of three explanatory-exploratory case-studies chosen amongst the few experiences present in Italy, the paper seeks to analyse the potentials and challenges in different organisational PES models applied to the provision of forest services in the country, with a special focus on tourism-related environmental services. The analysis shows that the markets for the various forest services have different drivers, sizes and levels of maturity. Performances in effectiveness, efficiency and equity are also highly variable. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for new private and mixed private-public initiatives need therefore to be further explored before assessing the true potential for implementing PES in Italy.