This is a PhD dissertation by Anna Norden contains five papers:

REDD (reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation) aims to slow carbon releases caused by forest disturbance by making payments conditional on forest quality over time. Like earlier policies to slow deforestation, REDD must change the behaviour of forest degrading actors.

This study was carried out to find out the impact of PES on the welfare of the communities in the Uluguru Mountains. The objective is to assess PES project which aims at conserving the environment (forest) and reducing poverty level.

The assessment of the project is done by looking at the difference between the treatment group (those who participate in PES) and control group (households who do not participate).

We offer a nationwide analysis of the initial years of Costa Rica’s PSA program, which pioneered environmental-services payments and inspired similar initiatives. Our estimates of this program’s impact on deforestation, between 1997 and 2000, range from zero to one-fifth of 1% per year (i.e., deforestation is avoided on, at most, 2 out of every 1,000 enrolled hectares). The main explanation for such a low impact is an already low national deforestation rate. We also consider the effect of enrollment.

This paper estimates the visitation demand function for Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) in order to determine the conservation fee to charge South African residents to maximise park revenue.