Transformative change through Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES): a conceptual framework and application to conservation agriculture in Malawi
Transformative change through Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES): a conceptual framework and application to conservation agriculture in Malawi
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DOI：
10.1017/sus.2018.4
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发表时间：
2018-06
影响因子：
5.5
通讯作者：
A. Bell;T. Benton;K. Droppelmann;L. Mapemba;O. Pierson;Patrick S. Ward
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
A. Bell;T. Benton;K. Droppelmann;L. Mapemba;O. Pierson;Patrick S. Ward
解决自然环境所提供的惠益和服务丧失问题的一个主要挑战是，很难找到办法让那些从自然环境中受益的人支付保护费用。我们研究了马拉维的一个这样的背景，在那里，农业干扰的土壤侵蚀不仅影响农民的收入，还破坏了水生栖息地，抑制了下游水坝的储存和水电潜力。我们证明，水电生产商向农民支付用于维持土地覆盖和防止水土流失的费用，对所有相关方都有好处。技术摘要生态系统服务支付（PES）计划提供了一种机制，将生态系统服务的受益者与能够提供这些服务的人联系起来。最近关于PES的工作表明，优先考虑在边际上使成本和收益相匹配，在边际上，总的来说，付款也很低。我们利用动态系统理论来证明，强化反馈有利于生态系统服务生产者，可能需要对PES项目进行更高的初始投资，并从马拉维的PES试验中提供行为驱动因素的证据来支持这些说法。具体来说，在我们的研究中，对等效应和土壤结构的改善是可以鼓励采用可持续土地管理实践的过程，同时或在没有其他激励措施的情况下。在这一框架下，PES项目可以在有限的时间内在不同的吸引力盆地之间转移系统，而不是长期维护服务所必需的项目。
Non-technical summary A major challenge in addressing the loss of benefits and services provided by the natural environment is that it can be difficult to find ways for those who benefit from them to pay for their preservation. We examine one such context in Malawi, where erosion from soils disturbed by agriculture affects not only farmers’ incomes, but also damages aquatic habitat and inhibits the storage and hydropower potential of dams downstream. We demonstrate that payments from hydropower producers to farmers to maintain land cover and prevent erosion can have benefits for all parties involved. Technical summary Payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes provide a mechanism to connect beneficiaries of ecosystem services with those whose actions could provide them. Recent work on PES has demonstrated a priority on matching costs and benefits at the margin, where, on the whole, payments are also low. We draw on dynamic systems theory to demonstrate that reinforcing feedbacks that benefit ecosystem services producers may warrant much higher initial investments in PES programs, and provide evidence of behavioural drivers from a PES trial in Malawi to support these claims. Specifically, in our study, peer effects and improvement to soil structure are processes that can encourage adoption of sustainable land management practices, alongside or in the absence of other incentives. Under this framing, PES programs can be vehicles to shift systems between basins of attraction over a time-limited period, rather than programs necessary for long-term maintenance of services.