资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Assessments of programs offering payments for forest conservation have largely focused on their contribution to avoiding deforestation but have overlooked degradation. We integrated remotely-sensed forest cover images, georeferenced landscape information, field-level forest inventories and face-to-face landowner surveys to quantify avoided deforestation and degradation within the context of Ecuador's Socio Bosque Program (PSB). We found the PSB prevented 9% of enrolled forest area in Ecuador's Amazon Basin from being deforested over the 2008-2014 period. This value is higher than previous assessments conducted in other Latin American nations. Inventory data suggest that forests within PSB-enrolled areas exhibited less evidence of degradation although statistical differences were only marginally significant On average, PSB-enrolled forests had between one and two more tree species per hectare than non-enrolled forests. These additional tree species'were twice as likely to be of commercial timber value and at greater threat of extinction. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.