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Livelihood and Environmental Impacts of Payments for Forest Environmental Services: A Case Study in Vietnam

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  • Teo Dang Do

    (Graduate School of Public Administration, National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), Bangkok 10240, Thailand)

  • Anchana NaRanong

    (Graduate School of Public Administration, National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), Bangkok 10240, Thailand)

Abstract

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) is widely employed in various settings; however, whether, and in what contexts, PES programs achieve their objectives by improving local livelihoods and conservation goals is still being debated. This paper aims to evaluate the impacts of payments for forest environmental services (PFES) policies on livelihoods and the environment using propensity score matching of data on 725 systematic randomly selected households in the buffer zones of seven protected areas (PAs) of Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces in Central Vietnam and data from the General Statistics Office and Landsat. The findings indicate that the PFES policy has some positive effects on economic and environmental issues for different groups. In terms of financial capital, the study found that poor households with PFES have slightly higher income than what they would have had they not participated in PFES. The difference in total income between poor households with and without PFES, however, was statistically insignificant, while the income of non-poor households with PFES was significantly higher than those without PFES. In addition, PFES households are likely to have more consumption expenditure for their daily living and better access to loans from various microfinance sources compared to those without PFES. The PFES policy has provided slight changes in the forest and forest cover and reduced natural forest loss between the pre-PFES and PFES periods. The findings of this study contribute to designing future PFES policies that can better distribute benefits to all household groups as well as harmonize social and natural capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Teo Dang Do & Anchana NaRanong, 2019. "Livelihood and Environmental Impacts of Payments for Forest Environmental Services: A Case Study in Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-22, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:15:p:4165-:d:254042
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    2. Pham, Van Truong & Roongtawanreongsri, Saowalak & Ho, Thong Quoc & Tran, Phuong Hanh Niekdam, 2021. "Can payments for forest environmental services help improve income and attitudes toward forest conservation? Household-level evaluation in the Central Highlands of Vietnam," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    3. Zhongcheng Yan & Feng Wei & Yaru Chen & Xin Deng & Yanbin Qi, 2020. "The Policy of Ecological Forest Rangers (EFRs) for the Poor: Goal Positioning and Realistic Choices—Evidence from the Re-Employment Behavior of EFRs in Sichuan, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-27, August.
    4. Gallemore, Caleb & Pham, Thu Thuy & Hamilton, Matthew & Munroe, Darla K., 2024. "Vietnam's Payments for Forest Ecosystem Services scheme's puzzling role in protecting longstanding forests as deforestation rates rise," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    5. Tianlin Zhai & Jing Wang & Ying Fang & Longyang Huang & Jingjing Liu & Chenchen Zhao, 2021. "Integrating Ecosystem Services Supply, Demand and Flow in Ecological Compensation: A Case Study of Carbon Sequestration Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.

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