Environmental NGOs, policy entrepreneurs of market-based instruments for ecosystem services? A comparison of Costa Rica, Madagascar and France

Market based instruments for ecosystem services have become the norm since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment advanced the concept of ecosystem services as an international reference in global govemance. In this way, market based instruments for ecosystem services have increasingly been implemented within nation States. In this paper we analyze the role of environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in spreading market based instruments for ecosystem services. We put forward the hypothesis that: when a State cannot adequately defend its political and economic sovereignty to produce its own public policies, then the environmental NGOs are strong policy entrepreneurs, that are able to diffuse standards and policy instruments. When a State is more politically and economically capable, the role of environmental NGOs as policy entrepreneurs is more limited. To test this hypothesis, we analyze the diffusion of market based instruments for ecosystem services in three contrasted countries regarding State and NGOs' respective strength: Costa Rica, Madagascar and France. A comparison and analysis of the dissemination of the market based instruments for ecosystem services in different countries therefore seems highlk relevant for analyzing such transfers of international standards and policy instruments. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.