Importance of local equity
perceptions in PES
A case study from Vietnam’s Payment for Forest
Ecosystem Services Program
Lasse Loft (ZALF) & Dung Le Ngoc (CIFOR)
8th ESP Conference, Stellenbosch 2015

Overview
• Underlying assumption
• Framework and research question
• Background on PFES in Vietnam
• Methods
• Results
• Preliminary interpretation and challenges ahead
10.11.15 Loft & Le Ngoc: Equity Perceptions in PFES 2

Underlying Assumption
Besides economic considerations with respect to costs and benefits additional factors
such as equity perceptions impact individuals’ motivation to change behavior.
10.11.15 Loft & Le Ngoc: Equity Perceptions in PFES 3
PES Policy
Ziele
Ecol.
Instr.
Social
Econ.
Incent.
Dir.
Reg.
Regulatee
Change in
behavior
Outcome
Ecological
Scoial
Economic
Motivation
•Mat. Interests
•Norm. Values

Research Question
Benefit sharing
legislation
Implementation
(procedural and
distributional)
Equity
perception
(procedural and
distributional)
Motivation to
change
behavior
Outcome
Decision Makers ES-Providers
RQ-1 Are equity considerations
(procedural and distributional) part
of the legislation and considered in
implementation?
RQ-2 Which procedural and
distributional equity principles are
these?
RQ-3 Is the BSM
being perceived
as equitable?
RQ-4 Which
equity principle
is the
judgement
based upon?
RQ-5 Does the
perceived
equity have an
effect on the
motivation of
the stakeholder
to change
behavior? 4

Equity Dimensions
Distributive Equity
Refers to the allocation of outcomes and their impacts on
different stakeholders in terms of costs, risks, and benefits
Procedural Equity
Refers to participation in decision-making and
inclusion, and negotiation of competing views
Contextual equity or ‘equity of access’
Relates to the existing social conditions – ‘the
ways in which different actors in society are able
to engage with and participate due to existing
capabilities and external factors
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PFES Background
10.11.15 Loft & Le Ngoc: Equity Perceptions in PFES 6

PFES Payment Distribution
Buyers
• Water supply
(40 VND / m3)
• Hydro power
(20 VND /kwh)
10.11.15 7

Methods
• 52 Village head surveys in 4 communes for
insights in PFES implementation
• A total of 179 household interviews in 2 villages
of each of those 4 communes
• Focus group discussions in these 8 villages
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General Observations
• Close to 70% of households and >92.3% of village heads stated that
villagers deserve to get the payment from their work of forest protection.
• 62% of households and 77% of village heads stated that the payment size
from PFES is sufficient.
The underlying rationale for their statement was that payments should
compensate their labor and time.
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Process
• Most village heads (69%) said that the process
for price setting is neither transparent nor well
understood.
• Most households (82%) think the process in
place for benefit distribution is neither
transparent nor well understood.
 Although majority households think the benefit distribution process was
not transparent, majority of them (84%) eventually considered the decision
on who gets payment as ‘fair’.
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Fairness of benefit distribution
42
3 1
125
1 1 11 1 1 1
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Input-based Pro-poor Marginalilized Equal share Facilitators
Nofhousehold
1st 2nd 3rd
Which benefit sharing options is conceived as fair and who should be
prioritized to get the benefits?
11

Fairness of benefit distribution
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
D6 D2 HU MP2 HHL HL1 ND KC
Equal share
Marginalized
Pro-poor
Input-based
10.11.15 Loft & Le Ngoc: Equity Perceptions in PFES 12

Fairness of benefit distribution
What should be the basis for payment distribution among those
carrying out activities?
146
1
25
2 5
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Input Output Equal to all villagers Others Do not know
Nofhousehold
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Relationship between process and
distribution
• Even though process of benefit distribution is perceived as
intransparent the distribution mode based on ‘equality’ is
perceived as fair.
• However, this perception is affected by the imperfect process.
As the perception of equality (‘everybody gets the same’)
being a fair distribution criterion is also reasoned to be the
easiest to measure and thus avoids conflicts
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Motivation
Has PFES been supportive to increase motivation in forest
protection efforts?
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Motivation to participate in PFES
41
74
8
12
49
3
38
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Peer influence Protect the
forest
Future forest
product
Potential
environmental
benefits
PFES payment Others No answer
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Preliminary conclusions and challenges
ahead
• Equity and normative values affect motivation to implement
PFES
• There is a link between the procedural equity and the
perception of distributional equity
• Further investigation on the link between equity perception
and change in behavior needed  conduct experiments
• How to show the impacts on the ecological outcome?
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Thanks for your attention