Payments for ecosystem services and conditional cash transfers in a policy mix: Microlevel interactions in Selva Lacandona, Mexico

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs have been increasingly studied with a policy mix perspective. So far, the focus has been on PES' interplay with other conservation instruments and resulting environmental outcomes at meso‐ and macrolevels. Though PES often operate among “poor” forest‐dwelling communities in the Global South, our knowledge on PES' interactions with poverty alleviation policies is scarce, especially at the microlevel. This article examines PES' interactions—in terms of joint coverage, management, and spending of revenues, and socioeconomic effects of participation—with a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program in a case study of six communities in Selva Lacandona, Chiapas, Mexico. The article builds a dual framework combining policy mix analysis with an actor‐oriented approach focused on participants' microagency, and is based on in‐depth, qualitative research. Results reveal widespread joint PES and CCT coverage, and patterns of specialization between different household members regarding the management and spending of program revenues. Results also show positive, multilevel policy interactions as participants combine resources to pursue individual and collective socioeconomic strategies. The article highlights the creative ways in which local stakeholders integrate individual policies within their broader livelihoods, and how coordination failures among policy‐implementing institutions and deficient public services limit participants' ability to achieve sustained livelihood improvements. The article also highlights how a focus on microlevel policy interactions complements meso‐ and macrolevel analyses for a better understanding of PES' role in a policy mix and concludes by providing some recommendations for building implementation synergies and improving program design.