TY - JOUR
T1 - Local responses to design changes in payments for ecosystem services in Chiapas, Mexico
AU - Izquierdo-Tort, Santiago
AU - Corbera, Esteve
AU - Barceinas Cruz, Alicia
AU - Naime, Julia
AU - Angélica Vázquez-Cisneros, Paola
AU - Carabias Lillo, Julia
AU - Castro-Tovar, Elisa
AU - Ortiz Rosas, Fiorella
AU - Rubio, Nuria
AU - Torres Knoop, Leonora
AU - Dupras, Jérôme
N1 - Funding Information:
However, satisfying productive and organisational commitments was challenging and expensive. The intermediary and ejidatarios did not develop forestry plans or certifications because these activities were considered unfeasible and undesirable (see Section 3.3 ). However, to secure extra application points, applicants in every ejido and the PES intermediary developed community-based instruments for territorial planning (except for Galacia where the president refused to participate). The development of these instruments was funded by the intermediary and involved training and support from external consultants. Similarly, the ejidos and the intermediary developed other activities over time to secure extra application points, such as participatory community planning assessments (P-Predial). These joint efforts to satisfy changing design features were highly successful: 73% (54 of 74) of PES applications in MdC received funding (see Table 2 ), which is much higher than the ~10% success rate for PSA applications in Chiapas in 2016 (CONAFOR staff interviewed in 2016) and the 31% success rate for PESL in 2013.
Funding Information:
We thank Roldan Muradian, Pamela McElwee, and three anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on earlier versions of this document. Thank you to the staff at Estaci?n Chajul for their support and the people in Marqu?s de Comillas and CONAFOR for sharing their time and knowledge.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/8/1
Y1 - 2021/8/1
N2 - Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are a popular conservation instrument in the Global South. However, little is known about how evolving PES design features affect local institutions and collective participation dynamics. Drawing on long-term field research spanning over a decade, we address this gap by investigating the evolution of PES design features and local responses by community participants in 10 communities of Selva Lacandona, state of Chiapas, Mexico. We show that Mexican PES programmes have shifted their goals over time, progressively adding productive, organisational, and social inclusion concerns to their main goal of forest conservation. We document a set of local responses to such PES design changes, namely: i) efforts to secure sustained programme access; ii) adaptations to local benefit-sharing and participation agreements; and iii) discontinuities in enrolment triggered by specific changes in design features. We also show that participants’ interests and practices align with PES forest protection goals but reflect a partial involvement of the community (or constrained collective action) in conservation affairs. Overall, our findings illustrate the dynamic interplay and resulting (mis)alignments between PES goals, outcomes, and participants’ practices and interests.
AB - Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are a popular conservation instrument in the Global South. However, little is known about how evolving PES design features affect local institutions and collective participation dynamics. Drawing on long-term field research spanning over a decade, we address this gap by investigating the evolution of PES design features and local responses by community participants in 10 communities of Selva Lacandona, state of Chiapas, Mexico. We show that Mexican PES programmes have shifted their goals over time, progressively adding productive, organisational, and social inclusion concerns to their main goal of forest conservation. We document a set of local responses to such PES design changes, namely: i) efforts to secure sustained programme access; ii) adaptations to local benefit-sharing and participation agreements; and iii) discontinuities in enrolment triggered by specific changes in design features. We also show that participants’ interests and practices align with PES forest protection goals but reflect a partial involvement of the community (or constrained collective action) in conservation affairs. Overall, our findings illustrate the dynamic interplay and resulting (mis)alignments between PES goals, outcomes, and participants’ practices and interests.
KW - Adaptive governance
KW - Collective action
KW - Payments for environmental services
KW - PES
KW - Policy design
KW - Selva Lacandona
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110549247&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/82061fa0-dc3a-383c-9e8b-7b11f180a6c7/
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecoser.2021.101305
DO - 10.1016/j.ecoser.2021.101305
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85110549247
SN - 2212-0416
VL - 50
JO - Ecosystem Services
JF - Ecosystem Services
M1 - 101305
ER -