David Cuesta

Master´s Thesis Title: Paramo’s protection policy in Colombia: factors influencing willingness to accept payments for environmental services in the Sumapaz region.

Societal challenges can be observed when declaring and implementing protected areas within a neoliberal conservation approach. Preserving nature from anthropogenic destruction or external abuse, could lead to unbalances and social inequity by forcing locals to stop traditional economic activities and limiting access to historically held settlements. In recent years, the Colombian government has implemented conservation policies to guarantee that zones of strategic importance can be saved from environmental degradation. Paramos (Spanish for Moorlands) are high Andean mountain ecosystems, which as part of the National Strategic Important Areas, are currently being demarcated and protected. They sustain essential biodiversity and provide drinking water for millions in the neighboring cities and towns. It is estimated that within the new ecosystem’s limits, hundreds of thousand peasants could be affected by the new conservation policy as farming and livestock activities will no longer be allowed. Apart from direct land acquisitions, probable compensations to peasants in the form of payment for environmental services (PES) schemes are considered within the implementation framework. Assigning or suggesting the right and fair economic value to an ecosystem or its services, is a complex task, particularly where different social actors control asymmetrical political power and compete for control of natural resources.

This master thesis attempts to identify key Socio-Economic, Demographic and Attitudinal factors afecting decisions to implement PES schemes in the Sumapaz Paramo area. Following the theoretical discussion, it tries to establish linkages between PES and: Willingness to accept (WTA), Political Ecology and Motivational Crowding theories. Using primary information from semi-structured interviews with farmers and experts at a local and regional level. With the application of contingent valuation (CV) and logistic regression techniques to elicit farmer’s WTA compensations for PES.

David holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and is currently completing his master in Life Sciences, Economy and Policy. He is interested in topics related to sustainable bio-economy and effective conservation. He was engaged in wildlife conservational projects including rare species monitoring and local afforestation in Victoria (AUS).