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What happens when the money runs out? Forest outcomes and equity concerns following Ecuador's suspension of conservation payments.

ABSTRACT: Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are now a prominent policy instrument for conserving tropical forests. PES are voluntary, direct, and contractual: an ES buyer pays an ES steward for adopting conservation practices for a fixed term. A defining feature of PES is its 'quid pro quo' conditionality, e.g. stewards are paid only if they deliver contracted conservation outcomes. Most studies on PES effectiveness focus on the steward's compliance with contract conditions. By contrast, the buyer's compliance has received scant attention despite the fact that PES programs across the globe have delayed payments, suspended re-enrollment, or shut down altogether. 'Use-restricting' PES depend on the continued flow of funding to pay for conservation; however, institutional, political, and economic factors can disrupt or terminate PES funding. What happens when the PES money unexpectedly runs out? Do stewards continue to conserve or revert to their former practices? We use mixed methods to study equity concerns and forest outcomes of an unexpected, two-year interruption in conservation payments to 63 private landowners residing in Ecuador's Amazon and enrolled in the Socio Bosque program, compared to similar landowners who did not enroll. Using quasi-experimental methods, we found that during the payment suspension period enrolled properties did not maintain their conservation outcomes where deforestation pressures were high (e.g. close to roads). Where deforestation pressures were low, enrolled properties continued to conserve more, on average, than similar properties not enrolled. Findings from 40 interviews and 26 focus groups conducted before, during, and after the payment suspension exposed profound landowner uncertainty regarding their contract rights. Poor official communication and imbalanced PES contract terms reinforced power inequalities between the state and rural ES stewards. Our work highlights the need to plan for financial volatility and to protect participants' rights in PES contract design.

SUBMITTER: Etchart N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7431125 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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What happens when the money runs out? Forest outcomes and equity concerns following Ecuador's suspension of conservation payments.

Etchart Nicolle N Freire José Luis JL Holland Margaret B MB Jones Kelly W KW Naughton-Treves Lisa L

World development 20200817

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are now a prominent policy instrument for conserving tropical forests. PES are voluntary, direct, and contractual: an ES buyer pays an ES steward for adopting conservation practices for a fixed term. A defining feature of PES is its 'quid pro quo' conditionality, e.g. stewards are paid only if they deliver contracted conservation outcomes. Most studies on PES effectiveness focus on the <i>steward's</i> compliance with contract conditions. By contrast, the <i ...[more]

PMID: 32834395

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Project description:IntroductionDifferences in academic qualifications are cited as the reason behind the documented gender gap in industry sponsorship to academic plastic surgeons. Gendered imbalances in academic metrics narrow among senior academic plastic surgeons. However, it is unknown whether this gender parity translates to industry payments.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional analysis of industry payments disbursed to plastic surgeons in 2018. Inclusion criteria encompassed (i) faculty with the rank of professor or a departmental leadership position. Exclusion criteria included faculty (i) who belonged to a speciality besides plastic surgery; (ii) whose gender could not be determined; or (iii) whose name could not be located on the Open Payment Database. Faculty and title were identified using departmental listings of ACGME plastic surgery residency programs. We extracted industry payment data through the Open Payment Database. We also collected details on H-index and time in practice. Statistical analysis included odds ratios (OR) and Pearson's correlation coefficient (R).ResultsWe identified 316 senior academic plastic surgeons. The cohort was predominately male (88%) and 91% held a leadership role. Among departmental leaders, women were more likely to be an assistant professor (OR 3.9, p = 0.0003) and heads of subdivision (OR 2.1, p = 0.0382) than men. Industry payments were distributed equally to male and female senior plastic surgeons except for speakerships where women received smaller amounts compared to their male counterparts (median payments of $3,675 vs $7,134 for women and men respectively, p<0.0001). Career length and H-index were positively associated with dollar value of total industry payments (R = 0.17, p = 0.0291, and R = 0.14, p = 0.0405, respectively).ConclusionDisparity in industry funding narrows at senior levels in academic plastic surgery. At higher academic levels, industry sponsorship may preferentially fund individuals based on academic productivity and career length. Increased transparency in selection criteria for speakerships is warranted.

Project description:BackgroundEven though China launched a series of measures to alleviate several financial burdens (including health insurance scheme, increased government investment, and so on), the economic burden of health expenditure has still not been alleviated. Out-of-pocket payments (OPPs) show not only a time correlation but also some degree of spatial correlation. The aims of the current study were thus to identify the spatial cluster of OPPs, to investigate the main factors affecting variation, and to explore the spatial spillover sources of China's OPP.MethodsGlobal and local spatial autocorrelation tests were validated to identify the spatial cluster of OPPs using the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2005 to 2016. The Spatial Durbin Model, established in this paper, measured the spatial spillover effect of OPPs and analyzed the possible spillover sources (demand, supply, and socio-economic factors.ResultsOPPs were found to have a significant and positive spatial correlation. The results of the Spatial Durbin Model showed the direct and indirect effects of demand, supply, and socio- economic factors on China's OPPs. Among the demand factors, the direct and indirect correlation (elasticity) coefficients were positive. Among the supply factors, the direct and indirect effects of the share of primary health beds on residents' OPPs were negative. The ratio of health technicians in hospitals to those in primary health institutions on per capital OPPs had a significant indirect effect. Among the socio-economic factors, the direct effects of GDP, government health expenditure, and urbanization on OPPs were found to be positive. There were no significant indirect effects of socio-economic factors on OPPs.ConclusionThis paper finds that China's OPPs are not randomly distributed but, overall, present a positive spatial cluster, even though a series of measures have been launched to promote health equity. Socio-economic factors and those associated with demand were found to be the main influences of variation in OPPs, while demand was seen to be the driver of the positive spatial spillover of OPPs, whereby effective supply could inhibit these positive spillover effects.

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What happens when the money runs out? Forest outcomes and equity concerns following Ecuador's suspension of conservation payments.

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What happens when the money runs out? Forest outcomes and equity concerns following Ecuador's suspension of conservation payments.

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