Do property rights promote investment but cause deforestation? Quasi-experimental evidence from Nicaragua

Liscow, Zachary D.

doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2012.07.001

Cited by 105 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Better corruption control, for example, by increasing bureaucratic efficiency, has been reported to facilitate agricultural expansion (27). The strengthening of property rights in Nicaragua has reportedly stimulated agricultural investments and led to an acceleration of the deforestation process (26). Secondly, the results are consistent with the social function doctrine of private property (41).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 67%

“…With respect to the effect of conventional governance factors on agricultural expansion and deforestation, the existing literature reports contrasting results (25)(26)(27). With regard to the environmental dimension of governance, great emphasis has been placed on the beneficial role of protected areas (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, different results have also been obtained (18,26,27). In fact it has been argued that better governance improves the bureaucratic efficiency and facilitates land credit and policies that may stimulate agricultural expansion.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Governance, agricultural intensification, and land sparing in tropical South America

Ceddia

Bardsley

Gómez-y-Paloma

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

118

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Significance Tropical South America has forest resources of global significance but exhibits a relatively high rate of deforestation. As agricultural expansion remains the most important cause of forest loss and degradation there, it is important to understand its main drivers. In this paper we address two important questions: How do the quality of governance and agricultural intensification combine to impact the spatial expansion of agriculture? Which aspects of governance are more likely to ensure that agricultural intensification allows sparing land for nature? By distinguishing between conventional and environmental dimensions of governance (which includes also the establishment of protected areas), we investigate which of these two aspects, by interacting with the process of agricultural intensification, is likely to promote land sparing.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Governance, agricultural intensification, and land sparing in tropical South America

Ceddia

Bardsley

Gómez-y-Paloma

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

118

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To our knowledge, only two published studies use quasiexperimental methods to evaluate the effects of changes in land tenure on forest cover: the studies by Buntaine et al (38) and Liscow (29). However, neither focuses on the effects of a nationallevel campaign aimed at indigenous communities.…”

Section: Evidence Basementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Community forest management can be undermined or co-opted by powerful private and public sector actors (26)(27)(28). Finally, by improving communities' access to credit and extending their planning horizons, titling can raise the returns on agriculture relative to forests, thereby encouraging extensification (29,30).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Titling indigenous communities protects forests in the Peruvian Amazon

Blackman

Corral

Lima

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

256

138

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Developing countries are increasingly decentralizing forest governance by granting indigenous groups and other local communities formal legal title to land. However, the effects of titling on forest cover are unclear. Rigorous analyses of titling campaigns are rare, and related theoretical and empirical research suggests that they could either stem or spur forest damage. We analyze such a campaign in the Peruvian Amazon, where more than 1,200 indigenous communities comprising some 11 million ha have been titled since the mid1970s. We use community-level longitudinal data derived from highresolution satellite images to estimate the effect of titling between 2002 and 2005 on contemporaneous forest clearing and disturbance. Our results indicate that titling reduces clearing by more than threequarters and forest disturbance by roughly two-thirds in a 2-y window spanning the year title is awarded and the year afterward. These results suggest that awarding formal land titles to local communities can advance forest conservation.

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Transition from Forest‐based to Cereal‐based Agricultural Systems: A Review of the Drivers of Land use Change and Degradation in Southwest Ethiopia

et al. 2016

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The southwestern Ethiopian montane forests are one of the most species‐rich ecosystems and are recognised globally as a priority area for the conservation of biodiversity. Particularly, in contrast to the drier central and northern Ethiopian highlands, they have received little attention by researchers. Here, we review changes to agricultural systems in and around these forests that are known as the genetic home of coffee (Coffea arabica L.) and that are important to the livelihoods of many rural people who have developed traditional management practices based on agro‐ecological knowledge, religious taboos and customary tenure rights. We explored the impacts of conversions to agroforestry and cereal‐based cropping systems on biodiversity, soil fertility, soil loss and the socio‐economic conditions and culture. The increasing trend of cereal cropping, resettlement and commercial agriculture causes the deterioration of natural forest cover in the region and threatens biodiversity, land quality, sustainable, traditional farming practices and the livelihood of the local community. Large‐scale plantations of tea, coffee, soapberry locally known as endod (Phytolacca dodecandra L'Hér.) and cereals have resulted in biodiversity loss. Following the conversion of forests, cultivated fields exhibit a significant decline in soil fertility and an increase in soil loss as compared with the traditional agroforestry system. The establishment of a sustainable agricultural system will require a change in paradigm, whereby the intrinsic values of the traditional forest‐based agricultural system are recognised, rather than the ongoing mimicking of agricultural policies that were developed for the open fields of central Ethiopia. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Do property rights promote investment but cause deforestation? Quasi-experimental evidence from Nicaragua

Cited by 105 publications

References 35 publications

Governance, agricultural intensification, and land sparing in tropical South America

Governance, agricultural intensification, and land sparing in tropical South America

Titling indigenous communities protects forests in the Peruvian Amazon

Transition from Forest‐based to Cereal‐based Agricultural Systems: A Review of the Drivers of Land use Change and Degradation in Southwest Ethiopia

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