Participation of Ecosystem Service Providers in a Watershed PES Project in Tanzania: Connection with the Coasean Perspectives

Abstract

The equitable payment for environmental service projects seem to have good objectives, but not so many households participated in it. Limited empirical information surrounds the most Payment for Environmental Services (PES) schemes with regard to which factors could influence the commitment of environmental service providers to switch to improved land management practices. Are these factors stemming from the Coasean theorem? The answer to this question is imperative as it paves way to more robust approach of PES implementation in Tanzania and worldwide. This study therefore sought to explore the challenges which either, held back or threatened the participation of ecosystem service providers in the Uluguru Mountains to the equitable payment for watershed services scheme, linking them to the main treatise of the Coasean theorem. This study employed a partially mixed concurrent dominant status design in which quantitative and qualitative approaches were used simultaneously, but with the quantitative approach being dominant. The mixed-methods design brought together different strengths of quantitative and qualitative methods, while offsetting the weaknesses of using a single method and expanding the set of collected data.