 Can short-term payments for ecosystem services deliver long-term tree cover change?Alicia Calle Ecosystem Services, 2020, vol. 42, issue C Abstract: Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have been heralded as an effective strategy to increase tree cover in agricultural landscapes, but their efficacy beyond the payment period has rarely been evaluated. I compared land covers before and 13 years after implementation of a short-term PES project that promoted the adoption of silvopastoral systems (SPS) in a cattle ranching landscape in Colombia. I used satellite images to quantify on-farm changes and farm-to-landscape differences in land cover change. On average, treeless pasture area decreased by 7% more and areas with tree cover increased 8% more on silvopastoral farms relative to the surrounding landscape. Short-term payments facilitated the adoption of SPS leading to a significantly greater increase in tree cover, which is still visible on participant farms a decade later. The results highlight the potential of short-term PES as a tool to facilitate the permanent adoption of SPS and to support restoration efforts in pasture-dominated landscapes. Keywords: Additionality; Agricultural landscapes; Forest landscape restoration; Payments for ecosystem services; Permanence; Silvopastoral systems; Tree cover change (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:42:y:2020:i:c:s2212041620300267 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101084 Access Statistics for this article Ecosystem Services is currently edited by Leon C Braat More articles in Ecosystem Services from Elsevier |
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