0000000001328071
AUTHOR
Julia P G Jones
Rethinking common assumptions on linkages between protected areas and human well-being
International policies on conservation and protected areas now emphasise a pro-poor approach and equitable management with participation by local communities. Many protected areas are now established and managed based on the premise that there are synergistic relationships between human well-being and environmental outcomes. Through a review of the academic literature and expert interviews, we investigate five common assumptions in protected area conservation pertaining to these synergies: (1) Conservation is pro-poor; (2) Poverty reduction benefits conservation; (3) Compensation neutralizes conservation costs; (4) Participation is good for conservation; (5) Resource tenure underpins long-t…
An Evaluation of the Impact of Payments for Ecosystem Services using a Randomized Control Trial
Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) aim to incentivize land users to manage their land in ways which benefit society. However, as with many complex socio-ecological interventions, robust evaluation of PES is challenging and rare. Using a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) we evaluate whether a conservation program in the Bolivian Andes, which incentivizes landowners to avoid deforestation and exclude cattle from riparian forests, delivers improvements in microbial water quality (as measured by Escherichia coli contamination), and reduces deforestation. Baseline data was collected in 2010 in 129 communities which were then randomly allocated to a treatment or control group. The evaluation ran …