Impact of a Community‐Based Payment for Environmental Services Intervention on Forest Use in Menabe, Madagascar

Despite the growing interest in conservation approaches that include payments for environmental services (PES), few evaluations of the influence of such interventions on behaviors of individuals have been conducted. We used self‐reported changes in six legal and illegal forest‐use behaviors to inves...

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Published in:	Conservation biology 2010-12, Vol.24 (6), p.1488-1498
Main Authors:	SOMMERVILLE, MATTHEW, MILNER‐GULLAND, E.J, RAHAJAHARISON, MICHAEL, JONES, JULIA P.G
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	actitudes Agriculture Animal, plant and microbial ecology Applied ecology attitudes Behavioral changes Biodiversity Biodiversity conservation Biological and medical sciences Communities conservación de la biodiversidad Conservation biology Conservation of Natural Resources - economics Conservation of Natural Resources - methods Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife Environmental conservation Environmental services industry Forest conservation Forest management Forestry Formicidae Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General forest ecology Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology Habitat conservation incentives incentivos Land use Madagascar Modeling monitoreo monitoring motivación Motivation Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking Trees Wildlife conservation
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Summary:	Despite the growing interest in conservation approaches that include payments for environmental services (PES), few evaluations of the influence of such interventions on behaviors of individuals have been conducted. We used self‐reported changes in six legal and illegal forest‐use behaviors to investigate the way in which a PES for biodiversity conservation intervention in Menabe, Madagascar, influenced behavior. Individuals (n =864) from eight intervention communities and five control communities answered questions on their forest‐use behaviors before and after the intervention began, as well as on their reasons for changing and their attitudes to various institutions. The payments had little impact on individuals' reported decisions to change behaviors, but it had a strong impact on individuals' attitudes. Payments appeared to legitimize monitoring of behaviors by the implementing nongovernmental organization (NGO), but did not act as a behavioral driver in their own right. Although there were no clear differences between changes in behaviors in the intervention and control communities, the intervention did influence motivations for change. Fear of local forest associations and the implementing NGO were strong motivators for changing behavior in communities with the PES intervention, whereas fear of the national government was the main reason given for change in control communities. Behavioral changes were most stable where fear of local organizations motivated the change. Our results highlight the interactions between different incentives people face when making behavioral decisions and the importance of considering the full range of incentives when designing community‐based PES interventions.
ISSN:	0888-8892 1523-1739