Impact of payments for forest environmental services on households' livelihood: a case study in the Central Highlands of Vietnam

Peer Reviewed
27 June 2022

Van Truong Pham, Saowalak Roongtawanreongsri, Thong Quoc Ho, Phuong Hanh Niekdam Tran

Payments for environmental services have been popularly used in environmental management and an increasing number of studies assesses their contribution to local livelihoods. This study employs propensity score matching with a dataset of 404 indigenous households in the Central Highlands of Vietnam to evaluate the effect of payments for forest environmental services (PFES) on their livelihoods. Participating in PFES increased households' employment and income from activities related to natural forests. Income from PFES allowed households to enhance productive investment and promote income from cultivation activities. All of this, in turn, increased their annual income, job satisfaction, living expenditures, and reduced the amount of any loan. Additionally, PFES enhanced opportunities to participate in training courses and traditional community activities. This confirms that PFES is not only a good initiative for forest management but also a livelihood policy for communities.

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Publication reference
Pham, V. T., Roongtawanreongsri, S., Ho, T. Q., & Tran, P. H. N. (2022). Impact of payments for forest environmental services on households’ livelihood: a case study in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Environment and Development Economics, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1355770x22000146
Publication | 30 December 2022