Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

The Moore Center for Science at Conservation International is one of the world’s premier conservation research institutes, producing and applying groundbreaking and policy-relevant research to help decision-makers protect nature. To date, Conservation International has published more than 1,100 peer-reviewed articles, many in leading journals including Science, Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

On average, each of our scientific papers is cited more than 45 times by other scholars — a rate exceeding that of any other U.S. conservation organization as well as leading universities.

Here is an archive of our most recent research.

Sustained participation in a Payments for Ecosystem Services program reduces deforestation in a Mexican agricultural frontier

Hugo Charoud, Sebastien Costedoat, Santiago Izquierdo-Tort, Lina Moros, Sergio Villamayor-Tomás, Miguel Ángel Castillo-Santiago, Sven Wunder, Esteve Corbera

Scientific Reports, 13

December 15, 2023

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) provide conditional incentives for forest conservation. PES short-term effects on deforestation are well-documented, but we know less about program effectiveness when participation is sustained over time. Here, we assess the impact of consecutive renewals of PES contracts on deforestation and forest degradation in three municipalities of the Selva Lacandona (Chiapas, Mexico). PES reduced deforestation both after a single 5-year contract and after two consecutive contracts, but the impacts are only detectable in higher deforestation-risk parcels. Enrollment duration increases PES impact in these parcels, which suggests a positive cumulative effect over time. These findings suggest that improved spatial targeting and longer-term enrollment are key enabling factors to improve forest conservation outcomes in agricultural frontiers.

CITATION

Charoud, H., Costedoat, S., Izquierdo-Tort, S., Moros, L., Villamayor-Tomás, S., Castillo-Santiago, M. Á., Wunder, S., & Corbera, E. (2023). Sustained participation in a Payments for Ecosystem Services program reduces deforestation in a Mexican agricultural frontier. Scientific Reports, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-49725-7