Costa Rica's Payment for Environmental Services Program: Intention, Implementation, and Impact

Abstract:  We evaluated the intention, implementation, and impact of Costa Rica's program of payments for environmental services (PSA), which was established in the late 1990s. Payments are given to private landowners who own land in forest areas in recognition of the ecosystem services their land provides. To characterize the distribution of PSA in Costa Rica, we combined remote sensing with geographic information system databases and then used econometrics to explore the impacts of payments on deforestation. Payments were distributed broadly across ecological and socioeconomic gradients, but the 1997–2000 deforestation rate was not significantly lower in areas that received payments. Other successful Costa Rican conservation policies, including those prior to the PSA program, may explain the current reduction in deforestation rates. The PSA program is a major advance in the global institutionalization of ecosystem investments because few, if any, other countries have such a conservation history and because much can be learned from Costa Rica's experiences.     

农民工参加工伤保险的影响因素研究——基于政策和企业视角的实证分析

为了解我国农民工参加工伤保险的影响因素,提高农民工工伤保险的参保率,通过对全国9个省市共3 848名农民工的问卷调查,应用Logistic回归模型分析政策的因素和企业的因素对农民工参加工伤保险的影响。结果表明,农民工是否参加工伤保险受到各地工伤保险政策以及农民工所在企业两方面的影响。从政策的角度看,个体工商户参加工伤保险的规定、工伤保险基金的统筹水平以及工伤保险的偿付方式对农民工参加工伤保险有显著影响;从企业的角度看,农民工所在企业是否建有工会、企业所有制对农民工参加工伤保险有显著影响。建议各地进一步明确工伤保险政策中对个体工商户的参保要求,继续提高工伤保险基金的统筹水平,增加农民工领取工伤保险偿付的方式。建议劳动保障部门加强对未建有工会的企业,加强对私企,特别是个体工商户的监察力度。     

Limits of monetization in protecting ecosystem services

The monetary valuation of ecosystem services is gaining traction in policy and business communities. Several tools and decision‐making processes have been proposed, including criteria to assess the appropriateness of using monetary valuation for biodiversity conservation outcomes. These criteria include measures such as scale, uniqueness, and threat. We used case studies of monetization projects for which the outcomes were measured to explore the limitations and application of these criteria. There was limited evidence of the effectiveness of such schemes. The majority of the schemes were established in areas where the criteria specifically excluded their use in isolation. Thus, although some aspects of monetization may be beneficial for biodiversity conservation, these schemes were not being used appropriately and require some quantitative minimum (or maximum) measurements to be applied through additional policy or governance measures to ensure biodiversity conservation outcomes.     

Trends in Deforestation and Forest Degradation after a Decade of Monitoring in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico

We used aerial photographs, satellite images, and field surveys to monitor forest cover in the core zones of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico from 2001 to 2012. We used our data to assess the effectiveness of conservation actions that involved local, state, and federal authorities and community members (e.g., local landowners and private and civil organizations) in one of the world's most iconic protected areas. From 2001 through 2012, 1254 ha were deforested (i.e., cleared areas had <10% canopy cover), 925 ha were degraded (i.e., areas for which canopy forest decreased), and 122 ha were affected by climatic conditions. Of the total 2179 ha of affected area, 2057 ha were affected by illegal logging: 1503 ha by large‐scale logging and 554 ha by small‐scale logging. Mexican authorities effectively enforced efforts to protect the monarch reserve, particularly from 2007 to 2012. Those efforts, together with the decade‐long financial support from Mexican and international philanthropists and businesses to create local alternative‐income generation and employment, resulted in the decrease of large‐scale illegal logging from 731 ha affected in 2005–2007 to none affected in 2012, although small‐scale logging is of growing concern. However, dire regional social and economic problems remain, and they must be addressed to ensure the reserve's long‐term conservation. The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) overwintering colonies in Mexico—which engage in one of the longest known insect migrations—are threatened by deforestation, and a multistakeholder, regional, sustainable‐development strategy is needed to protect the reserve. Tendencias en la Deforestación y la Degradación de Forestal después de una Década de Monitoreo en la Reserva de la Biósfera de la Mariposa Monarca en México     

贫困地区生态综合补偿转移支付法制研究

生态综合补偿的提出表明国家对生态补偿关注的重点从资金的来源转向资金使用的效果，其中转移支付法制是影响生态综合补偿效果的主要变量。从中央和地方两个层面的立法来看，贫困地区生态补偿转移支付立法从维护公平正义提供倾斜性补偿资金，转向促进“绿色发展”“绿色减贫”的生态补偿整体性效益建设。然而，整体上，相关法制建设尚显不足，如贫困地区利益未充分表达、补偿资金使用自主权未能充分发挥、整体性监督考核机制不健全等。原因在于，扶贫政治思维淡化了贫困地区生态综合补偿法律制度的属性，覆盖面难以普及；不同利益诉求造就了贫困地区生态综合补偿转移支付制度约束；行政放权的非制度化影响贫困地区生态补偿转移支付整体性效益。应以实现可持续的自我发展权新理念加强贫困地区生态综合补偿转移支付的法律制度化建设，明晰贫困地区生态综合补偿中转移支付的重要地位，夯实基础性财权，同时构建适应生态综合补偿的整体性考核机制。     

Computing payment for ecosystem services in watersheds: An analysis of the Middle Route Project of South-to-North Water Diversion in China

An improved watershed criteria model was developed in light of research on payment for ecosystem services outflows theory.     

国内外生态补偿现状及其完善措施

通过回顾发达国家(如美国、欧洲国家)和发展中国家(如中国、拉丁美洲国家)在实施生态补偿过程中采取的各种措施,发现其中存在的一些问题。在此基础上,总结了生态补偿的运行机制,提出完善生态补偿机制的措施,即:界定受偿方和支付方,明确各自的权利与义务;以机会成本为理论依据,将受偿地区生态保护与经济社会发展综合考虑,设定具有差异性的补偿标准,并将补偿分为基本补偿、产业结构调整补偿以及生态效益外溢补偿3个阶段;综合受益程度、支付能力和支付意愿确定支付方的支付标准;建立融资渠道,有效配置资金;建立生态补偿组织管理体系。生态补偿机制应以“造血式”补偿为目标,在研究中需加强生态学与经济学理论与方法的交叉。     

生态补偿理论研究进展及争论——基于生态与社会关系的思考

生态补偿的概念自提出便受到学界和政府决策者的广泛关注,并迅速成为近20年来生态保护的主要政策手段。虽然基于生态补偿的政策手段被大范围使用,但是生态补偿的相关理论却处于发展与争论的阶段,该理论的适用性及对现实问题的剖析在实践过程中备受质疑。本文梳理了生态补偿理论发展及构建的过程,将其总结为生态系统服务概念的提出、生态系统服务价值评估方法的建立、以及生态系统服务市场机制的构建三个主要阶段。已有研究更多集中在生态补偿的具体实施层面,如补偿标准、补偿方式、效果评估等方面,但是对基础理论探讨不足。本文从生态补偿理论发展及构建的三个过程,综述了目前对生态补偿理论的讨论及争议,认为在处理"社会—生态"关系的核心问题上,尤其在一些长期依赖并利用自然资源的传统地区或者民族地区,目前学术界和政策决策者均对此问题缺乏深入的理解,这也是实践中生态补偿政策未达到理想效果的主要原因之一。最后,本文提出用"社会生态系统服务"一词代替目前所使用的"生态系统服务",这一概念有助于在理论上避免忽视社会系统及社会与生态系统二者之间的关系,减少不当外部政策干预。     

Welfare environmentality and REDD+ incentives in Indonesia

This paper applies the concept of welfare environmentality to analyse Indonesia’s emerging national and project-based incentive frameworks, a key component to the climate programme reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). The paper adapts governmentality theory to explore the rationale and design of various incentive instruments, including government institutions to disburse financial payments and co-benefits to multiple recipients, as well as a local demonstration project in Central Kalimantan Province. These REDD+ incentives are often conflated with the neoliberalisation of the climate agenda, focused on the adoption of market instruments and the commodification of forest carbon. However, REDD+ incentives in Indonesia include diverse policy mechanisms and encompass multiple objectives – such as the delivery of social services and employment schemes aimed at improving community livelihoods. These incentives employ a welfare environmentality, where government agencies and their partners deliver certain rights and socio-economic security for communities in return for adopting practices that improve carbon and forest management. The application of welfare environmentality shows how incentive frameworks operate as a state intervention designed to restructure relations between people and environmental resources.     

企业主导生态付费模式研究——以江苏盐城国家级珍禽自然保护区为例

以江苏盐城国家级珍禽自然保护区(简称盐城保护区)为例,在问卷调查的基础上,分析了盐城保护区周边居民农药和化肥的使用对保护区生物多样性保护的潜在威胁.鉴于盐城保护区在生物多样性方面的重要性、其面临的挑战和机遇在中国众多保护区中的代表性,结合当前国际上方兴未艾的生态付费的基本思想,探讨了在盐城保护区引入私人部门主导的生态付费机制作为政府主导型生态付费机制补充形式的可能性,提出了由绿色企业对保护区周边农户直接开展生态服务付费机制的初步设计思想.