Meta-analysis of landowner participation in voluntary incentive programs for provision of forest ecosystem services

Abstract

Many voluntary incentive programs for provision of forest ecosystem services (ES) have low par-ticipation rates, insufficient enrollment areas, and inefficient ecological outcomes. Understanding participationbehavior in such programs has therefore become a crucial part of policy success. We synthesized a large bodyof literature on the behavior of nonindustrial private forest owners based on surveys of stated (intended) partic-ipation or data on actual participation in existing or hypothetical programs. Using metaregression analysis, weexamined how methodological, program-characteristic, and economic-incentive variables affected participationrate estimates. Participation rates tended to be overestimated when landowner participation was elicited in hy-pothetical choice situations (compared with real situations) and when dichotomous choice surveys (comparedwith census data) were used. The marginal effect sizes were quite large, for example, a 31% increase with useof stated choices in hypothetical scenarios, and practitioners should therefore be aware of them. However, useof choice experiment surveys in a modified scenario based on existing programs had no effect on participa-tion when all other determinants were controlled for. Participation rates decreased significantly as length of thecontract increased and when there was no withdrawal option. These results suggest that perpetual contractshave a lower negative impact on participation than time-limited contracts with a duration of over 50 years. Weconfirmed that as compensation amounts increased, participation increased. One-time up-front payments weremore effective in increasing initial participation than annual payments for contracts of over 5 years. We identifiedthe robust determinants and the effect sizes of those determinants on landowner participation rate estimates,thereby contributing to a better understanding of forest owner behavior and offering useful insights to enableresearchers and resource managers to improve the design and efficiency of new and existing forest ES programs. conservation easements, ecosystem services, incentive programs, landowner behavior, privateforestland, voluntary participation