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Abstract: This article proposes a multi-dimensional framework for understanding the development and effectiveness of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes, framed around the notions of institutional design, performance and interplay. The framework is applied in the context of Mexico''s Programme of Payments for Carbon, Biodiversity and Agro-forestry Services (PSA-CABSA), with an emphasis on its carbon component. The analysis shows that PSA-CABSA was promoted by civil society and its rules have been subject to continuous modifications over time. In the case of the carbon component, changes have been due to an original misunderstanding of how carbon projects should be designed, implemented, and carbon traded in actual markets. From a performance point of view, the paper shows that the programme has been well received by rural communities, and carbon payments have contributed to increase household income and to enhance forest management practices and organisational skills. The paper also highlights sources of institutional interplay with local institutions and international climate policy, and it reveals the importance of capacity and scale issues in securing an effective and fair implementation of PES. The conclusion provides some policy recommendations for the future development of PES initiatives in Mexico and elsewhere. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper constitutes a first attempt to model the relationship between climate change, biodiversity, and ecosystem services, with a specific emphasis on European forests. Firstly, we construct a composite biodiversity indicator that integrates quantitative and qualitative changes of biodiversity projected to 2050 for the EU-17 under future IPCC scenarios. Secondly, this indicator is integrated into two simultaneous equation models to capture the marginal impacts of changes in biodiversity on the value of ecosystem goods and services (EGS) due to climate change. Our estimation results confirm the role of biodiversity as a nature-based policy solution for climate change mitigation, shedding light on the policy actions that generate co-benefits by enhancing ecosystems' capacity to mitigate climate change impacts, while conserving biodiversity and sustaining the flows of EGS for human livelihoods. Especially, nature-based mitigation policies are more cost-effective and better at coping with the ethic and inequality issues associated with distributional impacts of the policy actions, compared to the pure technical solutions to improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions. However, the strength of biodiversity as a nature-based policy option for climate change mitigation depends on both the nature of the EGS and the geographical area under consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experts working on behalf of international development organisations need better tools to assist land managers in developing countries maintain their livelihoods, as climate change puts pressure on the ecosystem services that they depend upon. However, current understanding of livelihood vulnerability to climate change is based on a fractured and disparate set of theories and methods. This review therefore combines theoretical insights from sustainable livelihoods analysis with other analytical frameworks (including the ecosystem services framework, diffusion theory, social learning, adaptive management and transitions management) to assess the vulnerability of rural livelihoods to climate change. This integrated analytical framework helps diagnose vulnerability to climate change, whilst identifying and comparing adaptation options that could reduce vulnerability, following four broad steps: i) determine likely level of exposure to climate change, and how climate change might interact with existing stresses and other future drivers of change; ii) determine the sensitivity of stocks of capital assets and flows of ecosystem services to climate change; iii) identify factors influencing decisions to develop and/or adopt different adaptation strategies, based on innovation or the use/substitution of existing assets; and iv) identify and evaluate potential trade-offs between adaptation options. The paper concludes by identifying interdisciplinary research needs for assessing the vulnerability of livelihoods to climate change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Drought is a source of stress that affects forest growth, resulting in financial losses for forest owners and amenity losses for society. Due to climate change, such natural events will be more frequent and intense in the future. In this context, the objective of this paper is to compare, from an economic perspective, different forest adaptation strategies towards a drought-induced risk of decline. For that purpose, we focused on a case study of a beech forest in Burgundy (France) and we studied several adaptation options: density reduction, reduction of the rotation length, and substitution with Douglas-fir. We also considered two levels of drought risk (intermediate and low soil water capacity) and two climate scenarios from the IPCC (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). We combined a process-based forest-growth simulator (CASTANEA) with a traditional forest economics approach. The results showed that adaptation provided the best economic return in most of the scenarios considered. Combining strategies appears as a relevant way to adapt forests in view of a drought-induced risk of forest decline. We also demonstrated the importance of considering two disciplinary fields. Beneficial scenarios in an ecological perspective were not necessarily beneficial in an economic one and vice versa. • Drought affects forest growth resulting in timber production and carbon losses. • We combined a forest growth simulator with a classical forest economics approach. • We compared and combined different options of forest adaptation under two climates. • Forest needs adaptation and combining strategies provided the best economic return. • Ecological results and economics ones can coincide or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]