Driving adoption of payments for ecosystem services through social marketing, Veracruz, Mexico

In the Central Coast of Veracruz, Mexico, the expansion of sugar cane production, cattle ranching, and urban development threatens the tropical deciduous forest that serves as stopover habitat for numerous species of migratory raptors, including the peregrine falcon. To conserve the habitat of these key migratory bird species and slow deforestation due to agricultural pressures, Pronatura Veracruz and Rare implemented a social marketing campaign to motivate landowners to join a network of private conservation areas in exchange for ecosystem service payments under Mexico’s national Payments for Ecosystem Services program. In an area where Payments for Ecosystem Services adoption had been slow to take off, initial results indicate that the application of social marketing methods facilitated a social change in the Actopan municipality of Veracruz and ultimately enabled the protection of more than 1,500 hectares of previously unprotected forest.