FROM INCENTIVES TO IMPACT: AN EVALUATION OF THE SOCIOECOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF PAYMENTS FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES by KATHERINE MARIE BROWNSON (Under the Direction of Laurie A. Fowler) ABSTRACT Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs have come into widespread use in recent decades. PES incentivize land managers to account for the value of ecosystem services (ES) that provide public benefits in their private decision-making. As programs can provide cash or in-kind incentives to rural land managers, they are also promoted for their potential to contribute to rural development, especially where economic opportunities may be otherwise limited. PES programs can vary significantly in the ES they target, the incentives they provide, the activities they incentivize, as well as in their scale, governance and participating actors. In this dissertation, I use a social-ecological systems framework to evaluate how the governance of PES influences both social and environmental outcomes to determine if trade-offs are occurring between multiple outcome types. I used a mixed- methods approach to evaluate PES impacts across scales, ranging from reviews of PES around the world to the impacts of particular PES interventions in rural Costa Rica. Specifically, I employed literature reviews, focus groups and semi-structured interviews to generate qualitative data and ecosystem services modeling, surveys and avian community composition analysis to generate quantitative data. My analyses revealed a range of positive social and environmental impacts of PES. Globally, I found that community engagement in local PES programs are improving social capital, community assets and program legitimacy. In rural Costa Rica, I found that local, community-based PES are improving the provisioning of multiple ES that are also directly benefiting local communities. Although the national PES program in Costa Rica is not generating significant ES benefits, cash payments are benefiting program participants and these cash payments may be enabling additional conservation activities on lands not under contract. Therefore, although PES may not be consistently generating “win-wins” for people and the environment, trade-offs are not inevitable. Additional monitoring and evaluation of a range of potential program impacts may help expand the evidence base regarding the conditions under which synergies can be maximized between social and environmental outcomes. INDEX WORDS: Payments for Ecosystem Services, Payments for Watershed Services, Ecosystem services, Market-based mechanisms, Costa Rica, Conservation, Human well-being, Social-ecological systems, Integrative conservation, Environmental governance FROM INCENTIVES TO IMPACT: AN EVALUATION OF THE SOCIOECOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF PAYMENTS FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES by KATHERINE MARIE BROWNSON B.A., The Evergreen State College, 2003 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2019 © 2019 Katherine Marie Brownson All Rights Reserved FROM INCENTIVES TO IMPACT: AN EVALUATION OF THE SOCIOECOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF PAYMENTS FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES by KATHERINE MARIE BROWNSON Major Professor: Laurie Fowler Committee: Elizabeth Anderson Susana Ferreira Laura German Seth Wenger Electronic Version Approved: Suzanne Barbour Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2019 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my family-- Casey, Reed and Cocoa-- for coming along on this crazy journey with me. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have so many people to thank for their assistance with this dissertation. First, I would like to thank Laurie Fowler and my entire committee for their tireless assistance with this project. Laurie always challenged me to think about the big picture of my research and ensured I was working to make my project relevant to people. Seth Wenger and Susana Ferreira both provided tremendous assistance with performing and interpreting my statistical analyses. Laura German pushed me to consider a diversity of perspectives and epistemologies in my work and provided thoughtful insights on nearly every component of my dissertation. I’d also like to thank Beth Anderson for encouraging me to do fieldwork in the tropics and think deeply about the unique challenges of doing conservation research in this context. I also am forever indebted to the countless participants in my field research in Costa Rica, who opened up their lives to me, generously sharing their time, insights, and many cups of café. I am particularly thankful to the Leitón family (Geovanny, Cristina, Danny and Miguel) for welcoming us into their family and community, giving us a home away from home in Costa Rica, and helping care for our baby. Beatriz Mata provided critical support for organizing and conducting interviews in the field. She went above and beyond, helping me in the field up until the last few days before giving birth to her son. There are also many organizations and people who provided important direction in the development of my project as well as logistical support (in no particular order): Lindsay Stallcup and Yuber Rodriguez (Monteverde Conservation League); Deb Hamilton and v Randy Chinchilla (Monteverde Institute); Hugo Villalobos (Bellbird Biological Corridor Association); Ana Lorena Vargas (CNFL); Noelia Solano and Justin Welch (Monteverde Community Fund); Guillermo Vargas (Life Monteverde); Fabricio Camacho, Jose Montero and Lucas Ramirez (UGA Costa Rica); Katy Vandusen (CORCLIMA); the San Luis Development Association; the Interamerican Foundation; Liz Guinessey; Quint Newcomer and Carlos Guindon. Back in Athens, I was super lucky to have the support of many great friends and colleagues. Big thanks go to the entire Odum School of Ecology and Integrative Conservation communities, as well as the Fowler Lab and the River Basin Center for all of their support and abundant academic and social diversions. I would also like to thank Cara Love, Jess Chappell, Rachel Smith and Jenn DeMoss for being such fabulous writing companions and friends. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my family for keeping me fed and sane throughout this journey. My husband, Casey Mullen, provided incredible support throughout, both emotionally and logistically. He let me convince him that traveling to Costa Rica for seven months with our three-month-old baby was actually a really great idea and went above and beyond with childcare, cleaning and cooking. My son, Reed Mullen, proved to be a great field assistant even at a very young age, helping me build relationships and make friends in the field. He also kept me grounded, regularly reminding me to take snuggle breaks. All of my parents and Casey’s parents were also super helpful with childcare (Dianne Ricker, Bob Brownson, Jim Ricker, Christy Brownson, Deb Mullen and Mike Mullen). Reed is lucky to have such great grandparents! Many thanks to you all! vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................1 2 EVALUATING HOW WE EVALUATE SUCCESS: MONITORING, EVALUATION AND ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT IN PAYMENTS FOR WATERSHED SERVICES PROGRAMS ......................................................38 3 COMMUNITY-BASED PAYMENTS FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (CB- PES): IMPLICATIONS OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT FOR PROGRAM OUTCOMES ...............................................................................90 4 IMPACTS OF PAYMENTS FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES ON ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PROVISIONING AND HUMAN WELL-BEING IN RURAL COSTA RICA ………………………………………………………………………......134 5 THE IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURAL WINDBREAKS ON AVIAN COMUNITIES AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PROVISIONING IN THE BELLBIRD BIOLOGICAL CORRIDOR, COSTA RICA ...........................194 vii 6 CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................237 APPENDICES A SURVEY INSTRUMENT USED FOR CHAPTER 2 ..................................257 B RESULTS OF MULTIPLE CORRESPONDENCE ANALYSIS PRESENTED IN CHAPTER 2 .....................................................................270 C DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR CHAPTER 2 ........................................278 D LOGISTIC REGRESSION RESULTS FOR CHAPTER 2 ..........................280 E UNINFORMATIVE MODELS FROM CHAPTER 2 ..................................284 F SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEWED FOR CHAPTER 3 ..............285 G DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR SURVEY RESPONDENTS IN CHAPTER 4 ..................................................................................................293 H ESTIMATES FROM SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING LOGISTIC REGRESSION MODELS FOR CHAPTER 4 ..............................................294 I ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PLOTS FOR CHAPTER 5 ................................295 viii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1.1: Overview of topics and questions addressed ......... ............................................7 Table 2.1: Papers included in literature review .................................................................46 Table 2.2: Key monitoring and AM terms .........................................................................49