Philippe Méral

Philippe Méral
  • Directeur de recherche at Institute of Research for Development

Researcher Director & Laboratory Head UMR SENS

About

159
Publications
64,794
Reads
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1,901
Citations
Current institution
Institute of Research for Development
Current position
  • Directeur de recherche
Additional affiliations
April 1999 - December 2020
Institute of Research for Development
Position
  • Directeur de recherche
April 1996 - March 1999
Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University
Position
  • Attaché Temporaire d'Enseignement et de Recherche
November 1993 - December 1997
Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University
Position
  • PhD Student

Publications

Publications (159)
Article
Full-text available
Given the wicked environmental and sustainability challenges we face today, the need for a cross-disciplinary, science–society approach is increasingly undisputed. Yet, is the development of the distinct research fields of sustainability science (SustSci) and the environmental humanities (EnvHum) another example of academic silos? In this study, we...
Article
Full-text available
La notion de service écosystémique est devenue incontournable dans les discours institutionnels et académiques en dépit des controverses et des critiques. Initialement portée par les acteurs de la conservation de la biodiversité, elle connaît depuis plusieurs années un déploiement dans les milieux agricoles. Si l’idée selon laquelle les fonctionnal...
Article
L'histoire de la pensée économique dans le domaine de l'environnement est marquée par la naissance à la fin des années 1980 du courant d'économie écologique. Initialement, ce courant se voulait en opposition à l'économie de l'environnement et des ressources naturelles issues de l'analyse néo-classique. Toutefois, au fil du temps, les lignes de frac...
Article
Full-text available
Cet article vise à analyser les services (et dis-services) écosystémiques que la population cambodgienne retire de l’écosystème formé par le lac Tonle Sap et sa grande plaine d’inondation. Caractérisé par un phénomène de flux et de reflux du fleuve Mékong selon la saison des pluies, ce lac, dont la taille varie de un à cinq, est le lieu de la cultu...
Chapter
Full-text available
Beginning with an examination of the origins of the emergence of the ES concept in ecology, this chapter explores the different interpretations and uses of this concept, as well as the debates it has generated within the discipline. Indeed, for many specialists, ‘ecosystem services’ are not self-evident in ecology. As long as the concept served chi...
Article
This article explores the unknown role of Conservation Trust Funds (CTF) through a review of the literature (scientific and technical) and a database of 89 CTF worldwide. It is based on the observation that there is little interest in the scientific literature for this instrument, although it is very well documented and used by conservation actors...
Chapter
This book was inadvertently published with an incorrect figure (Fig. 6.1 in page 92). The current version of the book is published with correct figure.
Article
Full-text available
L’objectif de cet article est de discuter de l’intérêt présenté par une approche interdisciplinaire des paiements pour services environnementaux. Il s’agit d’analyser les complémentarités entre des cadres théoriques et conceptuels relevant de l’analyse économique institutionnaliste et d’approches de science politique. A l’aide d’études de cas (Cost...
Chapter
The usefulness of the ecosystem services framework (ESF) to emphasize relationships between agriculture and ecosystems has received little attention, and studies applying ESF to understand links between ecosystem services and rice production systems are lacking. This chapter tries to fill this gap by combining the ecosystem services (ES) and dis-se...
Chapter
Livelihoods of people in the Tonle Sap Lake (TSL) area of Cambodia are complex combinations of rice-based cropping, fishery systems, mixed cash crops/home gardens, natural pond culture/aquaculture, cattle and livestock, collection of flooded forest products, and nonfarm and off-farm activities. The productivity of these activities is intimately lin...
Article
The usefulness of the ecosystem services framework (ESF) to emphasize relationships between agriculture and ecosystems has received little attention, and studies applying ESF to understand links between ecosystem services and rice production systems are lacking. This chapter tries to fill this gap by combining the ecosystem services (ES) and dis-se...
Article
Livelihoods of people in the Tonle Sap Lake (TSL) area of Cambodia are complex combinations of rice-based cropping, fishery systems, mixed cash crops/home gardens, natural pond culture/aquaculture, cattle and livestock, collection of flooded forest products, and nonfarm and off-farm activities. The productivity of these activities is intimately lin...
Article
We examine whether and how word choice can affect individual perceptions about a proposed Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) program when objective outcomes are similar. From a traditional economic perspective, this type of manipulation would be considered unlikely to affect perceptions and behaviour, especially in the presence of pecuniary ince...
Article
In Cambodia, 85% of farmers are rice producers. Organic rice production has been adopted, with non-government organisation support and certifications, to improve farmers' revenue for sustainable rural development. This study aims to define the constraints of organic rice adoption in an agro-ecosystem with high risk of flood. Using agrarian system d...
Article
Full-text available
In Cambodia, 85% of farmers are rice producers. Organic rice production has been adopted, with non-government organisation support and certifications, to improve farmers' revenue for sustainable rural development. This study aims to define the constraints of organic rice adoption in an agro-ecosystem with high risk of flood. Using agrarian system d...
Chapter
Full-text available
D’abord imaginé par des écologues, le concept de service écosystémique (SE) a été produit dans le but de souligner l’importance du rôle du fonctionnement des écosystèmes pour les sociétés humaines (Daily, 1997; De Groot, 1992; Ehrlich, Ehrlich, 1982). Dans un contexte prégnant de dégradation des écosystèmes et de disparition des espèces, le concept...
Book
Full-text available
Préface de Philippe Puydarrieux Préface de Roldan Muradian Introduction Philippe Méral, Denis Pesche Genèse de la notion de service écosystémique dans le domaine de l’environnement 1. Les services écosystémiques dans les politiques internationales Denis Pesche, Marie Hrabanski 2. Les services écosystémiques : une notion discutée en écologie Fanny...
Article
Full-text available
Based on case studies from two tropical countries, Costa Rica and Madagascar, this article illustrates the relevance of several public policy analysis frameworks to better understand the emergence of payments for environmental services (PES). Those frameworks address issues that institutional economics, centered on the diversity of institutional ar...
Article
Full-text available
This paper gives an overview of the contribution of institutional economics to the analysis of payments for environmental services (PES) in the recent scientific literature. This work is based on the review of a selection of papers that appeared to us as the most significant dealing with this topic. Three main analytical themes were identified : th...
Article
Full-text available
1. Les PSE : entre theorie et pratiques Instruments incitatifs pour la conservation des ressources naturelles (eau, biodiversite, forets, etc.), les paiements pour services environnementaux ou ecosystemiques (PSE) sont de plus en plus utilises dans les politiques de conservation de la biodiversite. Leur succes s’explique par l’interet des decideurs...
Article
Full-text available
This article analyzes the processes of emergence and dissemination of PES schemes in Cambodia. Our analytical framework is based on the theory of institutional change of John R. Commons. In a context of conflicting interests in the use of natural resources, we show that the implementation or blocking of some PES projects reflect the strategies of c...
Article
Full-text available
Cet article propose une analyse des processus d’émergence et de diffusion des paiements pour services environnementaux (PSE) au Cambodge à partir de la théorie du changement institutionnel de John R. Commons. Nous montrons que dans un contexte de conflits d’intérêts autour de l’utilisation des ressources, la mise en place ou le blocage de certains...
Article
Full-text available
Les écosystèmes naturels fournissent des services de toute sorte aux sociétés humaines. Cette reconnaissance a été portée par des économistes écologiques. Mais ceux-ci se divisent sur le risque d'une marchandisation de la nature.
Article
Full-text available
Since the mid-1990s, the concept of ecosystem services has become increasingly popular in academic circles and among decision-makers. Because of its inclusive character, this concept has given rise to different interpretations in economics. Since its inception, it has been associated with the development of market-based instruments (MBIs) in conser...
Article
The use of economic incentives for biodiversity (mostly Compensation and Reward for Environmental Services including Payment for ES) has been widely supported in the past decades and became the main innovative policy tools for biodiversity conservation worldwide. These policy tools are often based on the insight that rational actors perfectly weigh...
Book
Full-text available
This Special Issue on “Ecosystem Services and Institutional Dynamics” is composed of a selection of papers which were originally presented during the 10th biennial conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics held in June 2013 in Lille. Ecosystem services, i.e. the material and immaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems, has b...
Article
The emergence of the concept of ecosystem services has triggered considerable discussion about the appropriate tools and institutional arrangements to provide ecosystem services. These tools include among others biodiversity “banks” that have been developed to provide biodiversity units or credits to offset environmental damage caused by economic d...
Article
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 governance. In this way, market based instruments for ecosystem services have increasingly been implemented within nation States. In this paper we analyze...
Article
Full-text available
Recent years have seen widespread experimentation with market-based instruments (MBIs) for the provision of environmental goods and ecosystem services. However, little attention has been paid to their design or to the effects of the underlying pro-market narrative on environmental policy instruments. The purpose of this article is to analyze the em...
Chapter
Full-text available
The topic of ecosystem services, ecological services, environmental services (ES) and payments for environmental services (PES) has recently become the main reference for international environmental policies (broadly including forest policy, agro-environmental measures and conservation policies). Brought to media attention by the Millennium Ecosyst...
Chapter
This chapter aims to analyse the emergence of PES in Madagascar, a country recognised as a biodiversity hotspot where conservation policies have occupied a central place for over 25 years. Due to the relevance of institutional analysis in the international literature, this chapter illustrates the analytical method of an institutional path dependenc...
Article
Full-text available
In this commentary we critically discuss the suitability of payments for ecosystem services and the most important challenges they face. While such instruments can play a role in improving environmental governance, we argue that over-reliance on payments as win-win solutions might lead to ineffective outcomes, similar to earlier experience with int...
Article
Full-text available
At the Rio+20 Conference (June 2012), the biodiversity conservation agenda was subsumed into broader environmental issues like sustainable development, “green economy,” and climate change. This shoehorning of biodiversity issues is concomitant with a trend toward market-based instruments and toward standardized biodiversity assessment and monitorin...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
This communication aims at discussing the interest of Sociology and Policy Science to answer research questions on the institutional economics research agenda on Ecosystem Services concept and on one of its tools: Payment for Environmental Services (PES). Through case studies at international level and in different countries (Costa Rica and Madagas...
Article
Full-text available
Depuis le milieu des années 1990, la notion de services écosystémiques a connu une popularité croissante tant académique qu'opérationnelle. L'objectif de cet article est d'en analyser les différentes significations dans le champ disciplinaire de l'économie. Dans ce cadre, il est important de revenir sur la généalogie du terme de services écosystémi...
Article
Full-text available
This article replaces the rising concept of "ecosystem service" (ES) in the western history, by bringing to light the continuities, the oppositions and the breaks which accompanied the genesis of this concept or its former equivalents. A “friendly nature”, the existence of "benefits", "the services" and "the utilities" were ideas regularly emphasis...
Article
This article aims to identify the modalities of the introduction and adoption of the ecosystem/environmental services (ES) notion at Madagascar, a biodiversity hot spot with low human development. The research privileged documentary study and interviews. The analysis confirms the importance of the international donors and NGO, promoting it so much...
Article
This article explores the application of ideas from historical institutionalism about path dependence to the study of environmental policy in Madagascar. It first reviews the central components of the historical institutionalism explanation, including the concepts of critical juncture, institutional change and institutional reproduction. This expla...
Article
Full-text available
Amazonia became a target area for Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) initiatives in deforestation. We analysed the implementation of a PES scheme in Acre (Brazil) by taking into account land use heterogeneity in an agricultural frontier. Justified by the modernisation of deforestation control policies, the programme promotes agricultural intensif...
Conference Paper
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the market-based instruments applied to ecosystem services, along with their potentials and risks as regards sustainability requirements. It seems necessary beforehand to take another look at the different interpretations of the ecosystem services concept within the economics field, in order to more effective...
Conference Paper
Depuis la fin des années 1990, l'expérimentation de Paiements pour Services Environnementaux (PSE) a connu un fort développement sur l'ensemble de la planète2. Ce type d'instrument a été développé tant dans les pays du Nord que du Sud, offrant ainsi une situation singulière pour analyser les processus de transfert de politique (policy transfer) qui...
Working Paper
Full-text available
A Madagascar, on observe l'émergence de plusieurs petits projets de PSE pour la gestion de bassin-versant, portés par différentes ONG. Malgré cette dynamique, il n'existe toujours pas de politique publique concernant des paiements pour services hydrologiques au niveau national. Les organismes d'Etat se structurent lentement mais des PSE eau à petit...
Article
La littérature récente sur les PSE (cf le numéro spécial de Ecological Economics 2010 intitulé "Reconciling theory and practice : An alternative conceptual framework for understanding payments for environmental services") met en avant l'importance des coûts de transaction dans la gouvernance des PSE. Toutefois, l'évaluation concrète de ces coûts es...

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