AGRICULTURAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY
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THE DEVELOPMENT FIELD AGRICULTURAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY |
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Rapid rates of deforestation are in part due to the fact that the environmental services provided by forests go un-rewarded, understating the private value of forests. Environmental services include the delivery of clean and regular water flows, reduction of soil erosion and siltage of reservoirs, preservation of biodiversity, carbon capture helping reduce climate change, and maintenance of landscapes. An increasing number of countries, including the United States, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Ecuador, and Colombia have introduced payments for environmental services to reduce rates of deforestation. Mexico is one of the most recent additions to this growing list, with water being its critical environmental issue. Deforestation in Mexico is complicated by the fact that most forests are held as common property by communities created by the post-Revolution land reform. This feature makes setting up contracts for environmental payment programs particularly challenging, as it raises questions of local governance and collective action. We are addressing these problems in a joint program with the National Ecology Institute (INE), the independent research arm of the Mexican Ministry of the Environment (SEMARNAT), the Iberoamericana University, and the Center for Economic Investigation and Learning (CIDE) with funding from the Mexican Government, the World Bank, the UC-MEXUS program, and the Ford Foundation. We did a large survey of 500 ejidos that allow the analysis of deforestation. The Mexican government implemented a pilot project of Payment for Environmental Services in 2004. The last phase of our research program includes the evaluation of this pilot. |
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