In Latin America and around the world, payment for ecosystem services (PES) programs represents a growing approach to conservation. In many cases, these programs aim to tackle social and environmental goals at the same time through, for example, improving the livelihoods of farmers while also encouraging more sustainable land-use practices. Ecuador’s SocioBosque program, a national-scale program that pays rural farmers and communities to conserve their forest or native highland grasslands (páramos) is a good example of a PES program. In this case, SocioBosque and its nested SocioPáramo program (focused on highland Andean grasslands) strive to protect biodiversity, ensure ample and clean water, store carbon, and reduce poverty among participant farmers and rural communities.
The Páramo landscape. Photo by the Authors.
In a recent study conducted by San Diego State University and Nature and Culture International, researchers interviewed 18 rural communities and 45 individual participants in SocioPáramo, representing nearly all participants at the time of sampling in 2010. The study aimed to understand, from the perspective of participants, how participation was changing their livelihoods. This included exploration of whether participants had to stop or reduce certain activities, including cattle grazing or potato farming, and how they were utilizing the cash incentive payment for individual or community projects. Ultimately, the study tried to understand the costs and benefits of participation, and whether participation improved or reduced local livelihoods from the perspective of participants. We found that the majority of participants considered the benefits of participation to outweigh any drawbacks. This was largely because most participants did not consider the land enrolled in SocioPáramo central to their livelihoods for multiple reasons: they often had more productive lower elevation land on which to concentrate production; the area was already protected by environmental regulations; or it was simply too far away to work intensively.
A community land-use map showing agricultural production in lower elevation areas and conservation zones in upper elevation areas (grasslands and primary forest). This community is utilizing their incentive payment from SocioPáramo to support conservation efforts in upper elevation areas and strengthen agricultural production in lower elevation areas.
The fact that the majority of participants did not make substantial changes to land use calls into question whether the program provides “additionality,” meaning that the amount of land conserved is above and beyond what would have occurred without the program. However, this study found that, while land use often did not change in areas conserved by the program, rural communities frequently utilized payments to enhance their capacity to steward their land. This was in the form direct protection or sustainable management (e.g. paying for community park guards, supporting community work days, sponsoring environmental workshops), as well as strengthening livelihoods in lower elevation areas to take pressure off of the highlands.
Alpacas as an alternative livelihood strategy in some communities enrolled in SocioPáramo
Communities viewed the program as both recognizing and ensuring their continued stewardship of páramos and Andean forests and also as a modest but important means of improving their livelihoods. The study found that well-organized communities, in particular, were best able to collectively invest incentive payments for both environmental and economic projects. This suggests that, rather than “paying for nothing,” SocioPáramo represents a cost-effective and equitable way to strengthen community-based management of critical ecosystems, particularly when working with well-organized communities. At the same time, these findings underscore the importance of processes that serve to strengthen community organization and interest in conservation and sustainable management of páramos.
Leah Bremer is a Postdoctoral Researcher with the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa and the Natural Capital Project, a partnership between Stanford University, the University of Minnesota, The Nature Conservancy, and the World Wildlife Fund. She works with diverse collaborators in Latin America and Hawaiʻi on strategies to link conservation and human well-being. Kathleen A. Farley received her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Colorado, Boulder and currently is an Associate Professor of Geography at San Diego State University. Her research focuses on conservation policy and practice, including use and management of grasslands, rangelands, and plantation forests and production of and payment for ecosystem services.
Comments are closed.