Farmer participation in reforestation incentive programs in Costa Rica

Abstract

Reforestation programs are a common policy response among developing country governments in the tropics attempting to deal with environmental and economic problems caused by widespread deforestation. The objective of this paper is to examine participation by smalland medium-sized farms in two reforestation programs undertaken in recent years by one country, Costa Rica, which has been at the forefront of developing country environmental protection efforts. Analysis of a survey of 243 program participants and non-participants shows that farm households participating in reforestation programs had generally larger farm sizes, were dedicated to low labor-intensive, land-extensive agricultural activities, faced significant family onfarm labor constraints, were more heavily dependent on off-farm income sources, and had more extensive contact with local extension efforts. Logistic regression is employed to econometrically identify demographic, economic, and land use determinants of farm household participation in reforestation programs; the implications of these findings are analyzed. The limitations of reforestation programs, especially with regard to management factors and quality of reforested plots, are reviewed. Implications for improving the efficiency of reforestation programs and the merits of other policy alternatives are also discussed.

Analysis of Socio-Economic Factors Influencing Forest Dwellers' Participation in Reforestation and Development of Forest Areas (The Case Study of West Mazandaran, Iran)

“…The influence of age on participation in forestry activities is not clear. Whilst some of the researches found that age had no influence on forest management [30,33] , other researcher reported that age is an important variable in explaining participation [3] . Household size influence participation in forestry [32,13] .…”

“…There are many causes of forest degradation that include converting forests to land agricultural, over harvesting of industrial wood and fuelwood, overgrazing, insect, pests and diseases, fire and extreme climatic events such as storms [14] . Based on mentioned subjects reforestation programs are a common policy response among developing country governments in the tropics attempting to deal with environmental and economic problems caused by widespread deforestation [30] . It is widely argued that devolution of natural resource management is the most viable option for ecological and economic sustainability of the natural resources [11] .…”

Can the poor participate in payments for environmental services? Lessons from the Silvopastoral Project in Nicaragua

“…Tenure variables were significant in 72% of agroforestry adoption studies that included them, with greater tenure security being consistently associated with greater adoption (Pattanayak et al, 2003). In Costa Rica, both Thacher et al (1997) and Zbinden and Lee (2005) found tenure-related variables to be highly significant in explaining participation in the country's PES program and its predecessors. Programs that require adoption of new practices may also face technical or financial constraints.…”

Poor Household Participation in Payments for Environmental Services: Lessons from the Silvopastoral Project in Quindío, Colombia

“…Tenure variables were significant in 72% of agroforestry adoption studies that included them, with greater tenure security being consistently associated with greater adoption (Pattanayak et al, 2003). Thacher et al (1997) and Zbinden and Lee (2005) found tenure-related variables to be highly significant in explaining participation in Costa Rica's PES program and its predecessor programs.…”

“…Access to extension was found to significantly affect agroforestry adoption in 90% of studies that included it (Pattanayak et al, 2003), including two studies in Costa Rica (Thacher et al, 1997;Zbinden and Lee, 2005).…”