Influence of local context variables on the outcomes of payments for ecosystem services: evidence from San Antonio del Barrio, Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract

Payment for ecosystem services (PES) is the main economic instrument developed for natural resource conservation. Evidence has shown the importance of local context in PES design and implementation and the complexity of defining and specifying that context. Using the socio-ecological systems framework, through surveys and interviews conducted in San Antonio, an indigenous community in Mexico with a forest socio-ecological system, this paper analyzes 13 variables as a way to approximate local context. The results show that the main contextual variables are forest cover, opportunity costs, livelihood, income, motivations and attitudes toward conservation, confidence and cooperation, traditional management practices, internal organization, land tenure, rules for the management and use of natural resources, presence and history of non-governmental organizations, economic and conservation history and distance to markets. In addition, the analysis of local context and PES outcomes in San Antonio leads us to conclude that a close relationship exists between the local context variables and the variables defined as causes of the PES outcomes