Cash payments prompt tropical forest users to harvest less

Study shows people cut 48 percent fewer trees when paid to conserve

Date:

March 14, 2018

Source:

University of Colorado at Boulder

Summary:

An experiment conducted with 1,200 villagers in five developing countries found that when people are given cash to conserve, they cut down fewer trees both while they are being paid and after payments cease.

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Residents of a village in Indonesia participate in a debriefing after participating in a study on cash-payments for conservation.

Credit: Krister Par Andersson/CU Boulder

Payments to protect carbon stored in forests must increase to defend against rubber

Date:

March 2, 2018

Source:

University of East Anglia

Summary:

Efforts to protect tropical forests in Southeast Asia for the carbon they store may fail because protection payments are too low. A new study finds that schemes designed to protect tropical forests from clearance based on the carbon they store do not pay enough to compete financially with potential profits from rubber plantations. Without increased financial compensation for forest carbon credits, cutting forests down will remain more attractive than protecting them.