Resource-rich countries find it pays to pay landholders to protect their land

From Dimitri Selibas / ENSIA: Guatemala’s reforestation programs pay farmers to keep their lands forested instead of clearing them for farming. The annual $380 payment each participant receives for 5 to 10 years comes from the general taxes collected by the government.

Click here to read the full story on ENSIA.

Issue Areas:

Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, Land Use, Sustainable Farming, Wellbeing Economics

Impact Areas:

Distributed Trust and Power, Environmental Sustainability, Health and Wellness

Actors:

Farmers, Government

Communities Served:

Communities Experiencing Economic Hardship, Farmers

Strategies:

Easing Economic Burdens for Individuals, Reallocating Government / Public Financing, Redefining Land / Land Ownership, Regeneration

Success Factors:

Attacking Root Causes, Eliminating Barriers, Empowering People, Establishing Social Norms, Providing Cash Instead Of Goods/Services, Using Financial Incentives

Geographic Region:

Central America, Latin America and the Caribbean

Countries:

Guatemala

Date:

May 11, 2023

More Resources:

Conversation with Anita Chandra

Anita Chandra (she/her) is vice president and director of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being and a senior policy researcher at RAND. The division that she leads covers a range of topics at the intersection of social and economic policy and...

Conversation with Jack Henderson

Jack Henderson is a digital democracy researcher with RadicalxChange Foundation, the ERC’s BlockchainGov project, and the Coalition Of Automated Legal Applications. He holds a degree in economics from Princeton University. Jack Henderson spoke with Ashley Hopkinson on February 21, 2024....

Conversation with Linda Shi

Linda Shi is an assistant professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University. Her research concerns how to plan for urban climate adaptation in ways that improve environmental sustainability and social justice. She studies how aspects...

Conversation with Kumi Naidoo

Kumi Naidoo is a prominent South African human rights and environmental justice activist. Naidoo spoke with Ashley Hopkinson on December 15, 2023. Click here to read the full conversation with insights highlighted. Ashley Hopkinson: Can you introduce yourself and tell...

Car Free Day: Global health leaders join Kigali residents in ‘Africa Walks against Malaria’

From Frank Ntarindwa / The New Times: ‘Kigali’s “Car Free Day” not only boasts an increase in residents’ activity levels, it also creates a space for more knowledge and service sharing for health conditions including Malaria.’ Screenings for non-communicable diseases...

Sweet City’: the Costa Rica suburb that gave citizenship to bees, plants and trees

From Patrick Greenfield / The Guardian: Curridabat, a city in Costa Rica has extended citizenship to the flora and fauna of the city (most notably pollinators) in order to enhance efforts to create more green spaces and healthier local ecosystems....