Understanding the governance of the Payment for Environmental Services Programme in Costa Rica: A policy process perspective

Jean-François Le Coq (), Geraldine Froger (), Denis Pesche (), Thomas Legrand and Fernando Saenz
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Jean-François Le Coq: UMR ART-Dev - Acteurs, Ressources et Territoires dans le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CINPE - Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica
Geraldine Froger: LEREPS - Laboratoire d'Etude et de Recherche sur l'Economie, les Politiques et les Systèmes Sociaux - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - UT2J - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès - UT - Université de Toulouse - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Toulouse - ENSFEA - École Nationale Supérieure de Formation de l'Enseignement Agricole de Toulouse-Auzeville
Denis Pesche: UMR ART-Dev - Acteurs, Ressources et Territoires dans le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Thomas Legrand: Cemotev - Centre d'études sur la mondialisation, les conflits, les territoires et les vulnérabilités - UVSQ - Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
Fernando Saenz: CINPE - Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica

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Abstract: Costa Rica was a pioneer in implementing the concept of ecosystem services through a dedicated policy instrument: the Payment for Environmental Services programme (PESP) formalised in February 1996 in the 4th forestry law. However, the policy process that led to the design of the PESP and its consequences for its subsequent governance have never been fully analysed. Our paper aims at answering three questions: why PESP was adopted, what are the factors which enabled the speedy adoption of PESP, and how does the policy process affect the governance of the programme. Between 2008 and 2012, we interviewed 42 key representatives and stakeholders involved in the policy process. We also reviewed laws, decrees, and academic and grey literature. We combined the sequential policy cycle model to identify the sequences of the genesis of the PESP from the problem setting to the decision sequence, and a cognitive approach to the policy process to identify the internal and external factors that led to its genesis. We show that the PESP was rapidly adopted because of the particular domestic context, plus several internal and exogenous factors. First, deforestation was widely acknowledged and forestry incentive instruments already existed as did consolidated forestry organisations and institutions. Second, compromises were reached between leading actors in a context in which the forestry sector interest group was the most powerful. Third, public subsidies were banned in the framework of an international agreement on trade while the international carbon market offered new opportunities. The key elements of the governance of the Costa Rican PESP, such as its scope, nature and decision structure, reflect the existing balance of power between interest groups from different sectors (forestry, conservation, agriculture) involved in the management of forested areas. We conclude that analysing the policy process is important to understand PES governance and to promote sound PES development.

Keywords: Policy process; Environmental services; Interest groups; Governance; Forest conservation; Costa Rica (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-12
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in Ecosystem Services, 2015, 16, pp.253-265. ⟨10.1016/j.ecoser.2015.10.003⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01294166

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2015.10.003

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