RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Supplementing REDD+ with Biodiversity Payments: The Paradox of Paying for Multiple Ecosystem Services
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 655
OP 675
DO 10.3368/le.89.4.655
VO 89
IS 4
A1 Busch, Jonah
YR 2013
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/89/4/655.abstract
AB An international mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation using carbon payments (REDD+) can be leveraged to make payments for forests’ biodiversity as well. Paradoxically, under conditions consistent with emerging REDD+ programs, money spent on a mixture of carbon payments and biodiversity payments has the potential to incentivize the provision of greater climate benefits than an equal amount of money spent only on carbon payments. This paradoxical result arises when diversifying payments across multiple services allows a funding agency to spend less on additional rents to existing suppliers of avoided deforestation and more on incentivizing the participation of new suppliers. (JEL Q23, Q54)