Cash for carbon: A randomized trial of payments for ecosystem services to reduce deforestation

We evaluated a program of payments for ecosystem services in Uganda that offered forest-owning households annual payments of 70,000 Ugandan shillings per hectare if they conserved their forest. The program was implemented as a randomized controlled trial in 121 villages, 60 of which received the program for 2 years. The primary outcome was the change in land area covered by trees, measured by classifying high-resolution satellite imagery. We found that tree cover declined by 4.2% during the study period in treatment villages, compared to 9.1% in control villages. We found no evidence that enrollees shifted their deforestation to nearby land. We valued the delayed carbon dioxide emissions and found that this…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: SES-1156941, award303751
• GE
  Global Environment Facility

  Awards: award303753, GFL: 2328-2716