Epsilon Open Archive

Abstract

Incentive-based measures are increasingly popular to alleviate ongoing biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions from land use change. However, effectively using scarce conservation funds remains a major challenge. Using behavioral economic experiments in the buffer zone of a Vietnamese national park, we show that unfair payment distributions that are beyond land users’ control can reduce the environmental effectiveness of incentives, and that women exert more effort. Our study region is threatened by forest degradation and is part of the nationwide Vietnamese Payments for Forest Ecosystem Services program, making it an important and relevant context for improving the effectiveness of conservation measures. These results show that policymakers aiming for effective and efficient programs should pay close attention to fairness and gender.