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paper presented at July 2005 meeting of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, Providence, Rhode Island Payments to the Rural Poor for the Sake of Conserving …

Abstract:

Conservation of fragile environments in the developing world sometimes involves direct payments to low-income people who commit themselves to leaving habitats undisturbed. This approach has been recommended for tropical forests by a number of economists (Ferraro, 2001; Ferraro and Kiss, 2002; Ferraro and Simpson, 2002; Rice et al. 2001; Simpson and Sedjo, 1996). Likewise, much interest has been expressed in payments for watershed environmental services (PWES). Under this approach, compensation is provided to inhabitants of the upper reaches of drainage basins, most of whom are impoverished. In return, these people refrain from land uses that exacerbate flooding, seasonal water shortages, and other problems at lower elevations (Landell-Mills and Porras, 2001). One might suppose that modest levels of compensation would be needed to encourage residents of upper watersheds and other …