IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v119y2019icp111-119.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why do payments for watershed services emerge? A cross-country analysis of adoption contexts

Author

Listed:
  • Bösch, Matthias
  • Elsasser, Peter
  • Wunder, Sven

Abstract

Payments for watershed services (PWS) are an increasingly popular tool for watershed management, also in the Southern Hemisphere. However, the degree of PWS adoption varies across these countries: while frequently represented in Latin America, water-related payment schemes do not exist in large parts of Africa and Asia. The causes for these adoption differences have so far been little discussed. Here we address this knowledge gap with a quantitative cross-national assessment of factors influencing the decision to adopt PWS schemes across tropical countries. Based on hypotheses from the literature, we construct a logistic regression model, testing the explanatory power of various economic, institutional, and physical-geographic variables on PWS adoption. We show that especially factors associated with a country’s topography, hydrology, demographics, and institutions significantly influence the probability of PWS adoption. Our analysis of the de facto framework conditions for PWS adoption also has repercussion for where donor investments in PWS would most likely pay off.

Suggested Citation

  • Bösch, Matthias & Elsasser, Peter & Wunder, Sven, 2019. "Why do payments for watershed services emerge? A cross-country analysis of adoption contexts," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 111-119.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:119:y:2019:i:c:p:111-119
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.03.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X19300683
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Collier & Anke Hoeffler, 2002. "On the Incidence of Civil War in Africa," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 46(1), pages 13-28, February.
    2. Wunder, Sven, 2015. "Revisiting the concept of payments for environmental services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 234-243.
    3. Muradian, Roldan & Corbera, Esteve & Pascual, Unai & Kosoy, Nicolás & May, Peter H., 2010. "Reconciling theory and practice: An alternative conceptual framework for understanding payments for environmental services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1202-1208, April.
    4. Nathan Nunn & Diego Puga, 2012. "Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(1), pages 20-36, February.
    5. Zanella, Matheus A. & Schleyer, Christian & Speelman, Stijn, 2014. "Why do farmers join Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes? An Assessment of PES water scheme participation in Brazil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 166-176.
    6. Hejnowicz, Adam P. & Raffaelli, David G. & Rudd, Murray A. & White, Piran C.L., 2014. "Evaluating the outcomes of payments for ecosystem services programmes using a capital asset framework," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 83-97.
    7. Sattler, Claudia & Trampnau, Susanne & Schomers, Sarah & Meyer, Claas & Matzdorf, Bettina, 2013. "Multi-classification of payments for ecosystem services: How do classification characteristics relate to overall PES success?," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 31-45.
    8. Edward B. Barbier & Joanne C. Burgess, 1997. "The Economics of Tropical Forest Land Use Options," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 73(2), pages 174-195.
    9. Farley, Joshua & Costanza, Robert, 2010. "Payments for ecosystem services: From local to global," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2060-2068, September.
    10. Edward B. Barbier, 2001. "The Economics of Tropical Deforestation and Land Use: An Introduction to the Special Issue," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 77(2), pages 155-171.
    11. Fauzi, Akhmad & Anna, Zuzy, 2013. "The complexity of the institution of payment for environmental services: A case study of two Indonesian PES schemes," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 54-63.
    12. Martin-Ortega, Julia & Ojea, Elena & Roux, Camille, 2013. "Payments for Water Ecosystem Services in Latin America: A literature review and conceptual model," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 122-132.
    13. Jayson K. Harper & M. Edward Rister & James W. Mjelde & Bastiaan M. Drees & Michael O. Way, 1990. "Factors Influencing the Adoption of Insect Management Technology," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 72(4), pages 997-1005.
    14. Engel, Stefanie & Pagiola, Stefano & Wunder, Sven, 2008. "Designing payments for environmental services in theory and practice: An overview of the issues," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(4), pages 663-674, May.
    15. Olli-Pekka Kuusela & Gregory S. Amacher, 2016. "Changing Political Regimes and Tropical Deforestation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 64(3), pages 445-463, July.
    16. Grieg-Gran, Maryanne & Porras, Ina & Wunder, Sven, 2005. "How can market mechanisms for forest environmental services help the poor? Preliminary lessons from Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1511-1527, September.
    17. Sattler, Claudia & Matzdorf, Bettina, 2013. "PES in a nutshell: From definitions and origins to PES in practice—Approaches, design process and innovative aspects," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 2-11.
    18. Edward B. Barbier, 2004. "Explaining Agricultural Land Expansion and Deforestation in Developing Countries," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1347-1353.
    19. Kosoy, Nicolas & Martinez-Tuna, Miguel & Muradian, Roldan & Martinez-Alier, Joan, 2007. "Payments for environmental services in watersheds: Insights from a comparative study of three cases in Central America," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 446-455, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yonariza, & Andini, Bevi Astika & Mahdi, & Maynard, Simone, 2019. "Addressing knowledge gaps between stakeholders in payments for watershed services: Case of Koto Panjang hydropower plant catchment area, Sumatra, Indonesia," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:119:y:2019:i:c:p:111-119. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Haili He). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.