Teaching and Educational Methods
Managing a Multiuse Resource with Payments for Ecosystem Services: A Classroom Game
Lauriane S. Yehouenou(a), Stephen N. Morgan(b), and Kelly A. Grogan(a)
University of Florida(a), U.S. Department of Agriculture-Economic Research Service(b)
JEL Codes: A22, Q23, Q57
Keywords: Classroom, ecosystem services, experiments, natural resource management, payments for ecosystem services
Publish Date: April 22, 2021
volume 3, Issue 3
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Abstract
This article presents a classroom experiment that introduces students to the concept of payment for ecosystem services (PES) applied to a multipurpose renewable forest resource. Through a natural resource management game, students can analyze how PES programs may alter the individual and group harvest decisions and stocks of both components of the multipurpose resources. Participants can choose between harvesting whole trees for timber, harvesting leaves for fodder, or some combination of both. In each round, students choose the quantity of both resources to harvest for profit. Students complete the experiment with and without the PES program to enable comparison of decisions across management regimes. The outcome (usually complete forest removal) at the end of the game helps demonstrate the tragedy of the commons in the absence of conservation policies.
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Seeds of Learning: Uncertainty and Technology Adoption in an Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Game
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Managing a Multiuse Resource with Payments for Ecosystem Services: A Classroom Game
Lauriane S. Yehouenou, Stephen N. Morgan, and Kelly A. Grogan
Making Learning about Climate Change Fun and Interactive
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