Social Impacts of Costa Rica's PSA Program

This paper discusses the social impacts
of Costa Rica's Payments for Environmental Services
(PSA) program and their effect on rural poverty. Although
the analysis is hampered by significant information gaps, we
believe that the PSA Program has probably managed to have an
impact on the poor. This impact is almost certainly positive
on the poor who were able to participate, but is difficult
to quantify. However, except for very few cases, it seems
unlikely that the PSA was able to actually lift participants
out of poverty. Participation of the poor was initially low
but increased as measures were introduced to target the poor
and facilitate their participation.