Abstract Economic instruments for conservation are invoked as a strategy to achieve the dual goals of maintaining healthy ecosystems and improving human well-being. The outcomes of such instruments are highly variable and there has been limited analysis of their social outcomes. Economic instruments for conservation can create opportunity and political leverage for minority groups or reinforce pre-existing power relationships and reproduce socio-economic inequalities. This research examines the equity implications of a government scheme from Brazil known as an ecological fiscal transfer, looking at how institutional arrangements and local power dynamics influence the application of revenue to achieve social outcomes. A case study from the Atlantic forest explores whether the application of revenue reflects the interests of a broad community base and avoids elite capture, or if decision-making processes are engineered by local power actors to further specific interests. Results demonstrate how poor local institutional capacity limits the effective governance of the revenue, leading to limited positive social outcomes. Furthermore, incentives offered by the mechanism stimulate conservation activity which implies high costs for the rural poor. The application of a framework of good governance guides the development of recommendations for improving the social equity of ecological fiscal transfer policies. These findings reinforce the importance of the design of EFTs applied in regions of poverty, if they are to promote socially equitable conservation.

中文翻译：

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改变或加剧不平等的机会？巴西政府支付保护费用对权力、治理和公平的影响

摘要 保护经济手段被用作实现维护健康生态系统和改善人类福祉双重目标的战略。此类工具的结果变化很大，对其社会结果的分析也很有限。保护的经济手段可以为少数群体创造机会和政治影响力，或加强预先存在的权力关系并重现社会经济不平等。本研究考察了巴西政府计划的公平影响，称为生态财政转移，研究制度安排和地方权力动态如何影响收入的应用以实现社会成果。大西洋森林的一项案例研究探讨了收入的应用是否反映了广泛社区基础的利益并避免了精英俘获，或者决策过程是否由当地权力参与者设计以促进特定利益。结果表明地方机构能力差如何限制收入的有效治理，导致有限的积极社会成果。此外，该机制提供的激励措施刺激了保护活动，这意味着农村穷人的成本很高。善治框架的应用指导制定改善生态财政转移政策的社会公平的建议。这些发现强调了在贫困地区应用 EFT 设计的重要性，如果它们要促进社会公平保护的话。