Impact of payments for forest environmental services on households’ livelihood: a case study in the Central Highlands of Vietnam

摘要

Payments for environmental services have been popularly used in environmental managementand an increasing number of studies assesses their contribution to local livelihoods.This study employs propensity score matching with a dataset of 404 indigenous householdsin the Central Highlands of Vietnam to evaluate the effect of payments for forestenvironmental services (PFES) on their livelihoods. Participating in PFES increased households’employment and income from activities related to natural forests. Income from PFESallowed households to enhance productive investment and promote income from cultivationactivities. All of this, in turn, increased their annual income, job satisfaction, living expenditures,and reduced the amount of any loan. Additionally, PFES enhanced opportunitiesto participate in training courses and traditional community activities. This confirms thatPFES is not only a good initiative for forest management but also a livelihood policy forcommunities.