CERDI - Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International

Auteur(s) : LE VELLY [G] , DUTILLY [C] , EZZINE DE BLAS [D] , FERNANDEZ [C]

Abstract / Résumé : This article empirically explores the distribution of a Payments for Environmental Services (PES) scheme within Mexican forest communities. The PSA-H is a Mexican federal PES that has been remunerating communities for forest conservation since 2003. During the last decade, Mexico’s National Forestry Commission [CONAFOR] has developed a complex targeting system in order to enroll forests owned by communities with certain socio-economic and ecological characteristics. In the present study we analyze the socio-economic characteristics and land use changes of recipients of the PSA-H to understand how the targeting objectives have been expressed in the field. We conducted a combined survey of 47 ejidos and 163 households in the south of the state of Yucatan – the Cono Sur region. We first investigate, at the ejido-level, what determines the unequal distribution of payments. Second, we analyze the amount of payment received depending on the characteristics of households. Our analysis shows that the way the PSA-H is being distributed by ejidatarios bypasses the initial compensation objective. As a matter of fact, the distribution of the payments reflects past land use trajectories.

Keywords / Mots Clés : PES ; Mexico ; Communities ; Forest conservation ; Economic compensation ; Distribution of payments

Code JEL : Q28 - Government Policy , Q23 - Forestry , D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement