The best strategy for using trees to improve climate and ecosystems? Go natural

Carey, John G. J.

doi:10.1073/pnas.2000425117

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…While we cannot provide formal proof of additionality, it is very likely that our study's outcomes are substantially better than absent financial incentives. As discussed in more detail below, we observe an average survival rate of about 34 percent, and this is substantially higher than the survival rates that are typically obtained in such dry agro-ecological conditions (Carey, 2020). 9…”

Section: Empirical Approachmentioning

confidence: 50%

Incentivizing Conservation of De Facto Community-Owned Forests

Soest¹,

Adjognon²,

Heijden³

2021

Policy Research Working Papers

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The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. Policy Research Working Paper 9293Payments for environmental services are a nature conservation policy in which landowners receive financial compensation conditional on verified environmental service delivery. Contracts for payments for environmental services have been found to be effective in inducing conservation on private lands, but they may give rise to strong free-riding incentives when implemented on lands that are, de facto or de jure, commonly owned. This study implemented a randomized controlled trial in arid Burkina Faso to test the relative effectiveness of two collective payment for environmental services schemes in inducing forest conservation-a linear group payment scheme, in which group payments increase linearly with tree survival rates, and a threshold group payment scheme. The extant theory predicts that the latter incentive mechanism will (weakly) outperform the former. This paper develops a new theory that shows that the reverse may also hold-but only if the relationship between effort and tree survival rates is very uncertain. The findings show that threshold group payments increase intermediate measures of cooperation, but-consistent with Burkina Faso's harsh conditions rendering tree survival quite stochastic-actual survival rates are higher with the linear group payments. The paper presents field experimental evidence as well as lab experimental results to explore the mechanisms giving rise to these results. This paper is a product of the Development Impact Evaluation Group, Development Economics. It is part of a larger effort by the World Bank to provide open access to its research and make a contribution to development policy discussions around the world. Policy Research Working Papers are also posted on the Web at http://www.worldbank.org/prwp.

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Section: Empirical Approachmentioning

confidence: 50%

Incentivizing Conservation of De Facto Community-Owned Forests

Soest¹,

Adjognon²,

Heijden³

2021

Policy Research Working Papers

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“…The average survival rate was around 37%, with some variation across species and regions. Although these survival rates may seem low, this outcome is actually very good considering the arid conditions in the Sahel (Carey 2020). Given low survival rates of trees in the Sahel, it is important for policy makers to also appreciate the co‐benefits of these interventions, including the livelihood outcomes for the affected communities, in order to best decide among alternative policy instruments.…”

Section: Program Description and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 97%

Reducing Hunger with Payments for Environmental Services (PES): Experimental Evidence from Burkina Faso

Adjognon¹,

Soest²,

Guthoff³

2020

American J Agri Economics

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Both environmental protection and poverty alleviation are high on the international policy agenda for developing countries. We examine whether conditional environmental cash transfer programs contribute to the social protection of the beneficiaries, using data from a randomized controlled trial on reforestation, implemented in cooperation with the government of Burkina Faso. Randomly selected farmers were invited to undertake maintenance activities to increase the survival rate of trees that were planted on degraded forest lands. Compensation, in the form of monetary payments, varied with the number of trees still alive nine months after the tree planting. The timing of the conditional payments coincided with the lean season, when most farmers needed cash for food consumption and agricultural inputs. Six months after the transfers, the recipient households reported 12% higher food consumption expenditures compared to the control group, as well as a 35 and 60% reduction in, respectively, moderate and severe food insecurity. Our data indicate that the transfers received during the lean season were not only used to address immediate consumption needs but also to invest in crop and livestock production. The investments resulted in subsequent increases in agricultural outputs and income. We thus conclude that conditional environmental cash transfers, when paid in the lean season, can not only support consumption smoothing in the short run but can also improve livelihoods in the longer run.

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“…Niger, Burkina Faso, and other countries (Reij et al, 2005;Carey, 2020) including spontaneous adoption when farmers witnessed the visible agricultural and economic benefits on neighboring farms (Weston et al, 2015). A synthesis of evidence about FMNR focused on benefits derived from the practice (Francis et al, 2015) called for development of a co-ordinated research strategy to build an evidence base for FMNR.…”

Section: Enrichment Planting (Ep)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A synthesis of evidence about FMNR focused on benefits derived from the practice (Francis et al, 2015) called for development of a co-ordinated research strategy to build an evidence base for FMNR. FMNR is now widely promoted beyond the Sahel to other parts of Africa, heralded as a panacea for restoring degraded lands on the basis that it is inexpensive, replicable, achieves rapid results in terms of vegetation cover while avoiding the risk of low survival rates common in tree planting; and builds on skills that farmers already possess (Reij et al, 2009;Reij and Garrity, 2016;Carey, 2020). Yet, despite these claims and stated benefits, widespread adoption beyond project localities is yet to be evidenced.…”

Section: Enrichment Planting (Ep)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Opportunities and Constraints for Using Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration for Land Restoration in Sub-Saharan Africa

Chomba

Sinclair

Savadogo³

et al. 2020

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) comprises a set of practices used by farmers to encourage the growth of native trees on agricultural land. FMNR is reported to deliver a number of positive impacts, including increasing agricultural productivity through soil fertility improvement and feed for livestock, incomes, and other environmental benefits. It is widely promoted in Africa as a cost-effective way of restoring degraded land, that overcomes the challenge of low survival rates associated with tree planting in arid and semi-arid areas. Despite being widely promoted, the evidence for these bold claims about FMNR has not been systematically analyzed. This paper reviews the scientific evidence related to the contexts in which FMNR is practiced across sub-Saharan Africa, how this influences the composition of regenerating vegetation, and the resulting environmental and socioeconomic benefits derived from it. This reveals that quantitative evidence on FMNR outcomes is sparse and mainly related to experience in the Maradi and Zinder regions of Niger. There is little mechanistic understanding relating how context conditions the diversity and abundance of regenerating trees and how this in turn is related to ecosystem function and livelihood benefits. This makes it difficult to determine where and for whom FMNR is an appropriate restoration technique and where it might be necessary to combine it with enrichment planting. Given the need for viable restoration practices for agricultural land across Africa, well beyond the climatic and edaphic contexts covered by existing FMNR studies, we recommend research combining functional ecology and socioeconomic assessments, embedded as colearning components within scaling up initiatives. This would fill key knowledge gaps, enabling the development of context-sensitive advice on where and how to promote FMNR, as well as the calculation of the return on investment of doing so.

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The best strategy for using trees to improve climate and ecosystems? Go natural

Abstract: Despite big headlines and big money devoted to massive tree-planting projects that pledge to stave off desertification, the most effective method may be nurturing native seeds, rootstocks, and trees.

Cited by 12 publications

References 3 publications

Incentivizing Conservation of De Facto Community-Owned Forests

Incentivizing Conservation of De Facto Community-Owned Forests

Reducing Hunger with Payments for Environmental Services (PES): Experimental Evidence from Burkina Faso

Opportunities and Constraints for Using Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration for Land Restoration in Sub-Saharan Africa

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