Cash for Carbon: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Payments for Ecosystem Services to Reduce Deforestation /

This paper evaluates a Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) program in western Uganda that offered forest-owning households cash payments if they conserved their forest. The program was implemented as a randomized trial in 121 villages, 60 of which received the program for two years. The PES progra...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Weitere Titel:
Cash for Carbon
1. Verfasser:
Jayachandran, Seema
Körperschaft:
National Bureau of Economic Research
Weitere Verfasser:
Laat, Joost de, Lambin, Eric F., Stanton, Charlotte Y.
Format:
Elektronisch E-Book
Sprache:
Englisch
Veröffentlicht:
Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2016.
Zusammenfassung:
This paper evaluates a Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) program in western Uganda that offered forest-owning households cash payments if they conserved their forest. The program was implemented as a randomized trial in 121 villages, 60 of which received the program for two years. The PES program reduced deforestation and forest degradation: Tree cover, measured using high-resolution satellite imagery, declined by 2% to 5% in treatment villages compared to 7% to 10% in control villages during the study period. We find no evidence of shifting of tree-cutting to nearby land. We then use the estimated effect size and the "social cost of carbon" to value the delayed carbon dioxide emissions, and compare this benefit to the program's cost.
Umfang:
1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);
Anmerkungen:
June 2016.
Schlagworte: