title: Evaluating interactions of forest conservation policies on avoided deforestation.
abstract: We estimate the effects on deforestation that have resulted from policy interactions between parks and payments and between park buffers and payments in Costa Rica between 2000 and 2005. We show that the characteristics of the areas where protected and unprotected lands are located differ significantly. Additionally, we find that land characteristics of each of the policies and of the places where they interact also differ significantly. To adequately estimate the effects of the policies and their interactions, we use matching methods. Matching is implemented not only to define adequate control groups, as in previous research, but also to define those groups of locations under the influence of policies that are comparable to each other. We find that it is more effective to locate parks and payments away from each other, rather than in the same location or near each other. The high levels of enforcement inside both parks and lands with payments, and the presence of conservation spillovers that reduce deforestation near parks, significantly reduce the potential impact of combining these two policies.
authors.affiliation: Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Turrialba, Costa Rica; Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robalino
authors.affiliation: Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Turrialba, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Catalina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sandoval
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Nature and Research, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.affiliation: Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Turrialba, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chacon
authors.affiliation: Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pfaff
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000379:methods; D003364:Costa Rica; D017753:Ecosystem; D065928:Forests; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans