Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme design in rural Tanzania: Famers? preferences for enforcement and payment options

Abstract

Payment for ecosystem services schemes can take a variety of approaches. They may provide payment for avoided actions which would otherwise be environmentally detrimental (known as ?compensation for opportunities skipped?) or provide co-investment in activities that have environmental benefits (known as ?co-investment in ecosystem services?). We use a choice experiment survey to test farmers? preferences for these different approaches in the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. We show that the form of payment (individual, collective or individual co-investment) has a large influence on likely participation in PES schemes. We also show that surprisingly, minimal conditionality is not necessarily preferred.