Résumé
In most upper-catchments of the Northern provinces of Vietnam current land uses are producing negative externalities that affect downstream areas. Slash-and-burn is often blamed as the main cause for the problem. Land uses that would bring about environmental benefits include tree-based land use alternatives and agro-ecological practices (e.g. direct-seeded mulching cropping systems). However, the environmental services these alternative land uses would provide are un-rewarded. Payments for Environmental Services (PES) schemes present a new approach that focuses on creating a conditional benefit transfer between the upland providers of environmental services and the downstream beneficiaries. Agricultural households in upper-catchments have unequal access to natural resources, inducing contrasted farming practices and livelihood strategies. Our main objective was to evaluate the response of contrasted households to PES schemes that would reward them when they set aside some land for forestry projects. We looked at the specificity of PES schemes targeted at agricultural households of the upper-catchments in Northern Vietnam. Based on farm typologies developed earlier and using a simplified farm model, we analyzed how households with different endowments would respond to such PES schemes. (Résumé d'auteur)