@article {27984,
	title = {Decision criteria of European and Latin American market actors for tropical forestry projects providing environmental services},
	journal = {Ecological EconomicsEcological Economics},
	volume = {58},
	year = {2006},
	pages = {17-36},
	abstract = {Converting the environmental services of tropical forests from public goods to tradable services is a promising approachto sustaining tropical forests{\textquoteright} ecosystem functions and services. We hypothesize that the development of markets for theseenvironmental services will substantially depend on compliance with requirements of key market actors representing supplyand demand sides. This paper analyzes market actors{\textquoteright} decision criteria related to engagement in tropical forestry projectsthat provide environmental services. In a questionnaire survey, 45 experts from Latin America and Europe representing keymarket actor groups, i.e., certifiers, consulting companies, financial institutions, governmental organizations, industrialcompanies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), were asked to name and weight criteria that tropical forestryprojects should meet in order to attract their institution{\textquoteright}s engagement. Many of these 45 institutions are already involved inseveral market activities related to tropical forestry projects and environmental services, including asset management,certification, consultancy, credit business, investments, project ownership and trade/brokerage. The collected criteria cover avariety of topics that clearly go beyond frequently applied sustainability dimensions in forestry related multi-criteria baseddecision making, i.e., social, environmental and economic dimensions. For example, relatively many criteria involve topicssuch as project management, risk management or marketing. While differences in criteria weighting among market actorgroups are not significant, we found a significant interaction between criteria weights and the provenance of participants,indicating that Latin American and European market actors nominate and weight single decision criteria differently. Thefive criteria with highest mean weights in the European sample are social benefits, legal compliance, sustainability,environmental benefits and stakeholder participation. The Latin American market actors weighted highest expertise andcapacity building, financial resources, political aspects, information management and markets. Generally, Latin Americanmarket actors emphasize criteria related to markets and information/knowledge management, whereas European participantstend to assign importance to social and environmental benefits and sustainability. The survey provides preliminary insightsinto bottom-up defined decision criteria relevant for key-actors in the market of tropical forestry-based environmental  services, and compiles information for further multi-criteria based assessments of tropical forestry projects providingenvironmental services.},
	author = {Sell, J. and Koellner, T. and Weber, O. and Pedroni, L. and Scholz, R. W.}
}
