Titling community land to prevent deforestation: An evaluation of a best-case program in Morona-Santiago, Ecuador

Buntaine, Mark T.; Hamilton, Stuart E.; Millones, Marco

doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.04.001

Cited by 89 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 73 publications

(79 reference statements)

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“…However, the study does not focus exclusively on indigenous communities. SI Comparison with Previous Evaluations discusses possible reasons for differences between our results and the results of Buntaine et al (38) and Liscow (29).…”

Section: Evidence Basementioning

confidence: 44%

“…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%

“…However, neither focuses on the effects of a nationallevel campaign aimed at indigenous communities. Buntaine et al (38) use satellite data, along with matched difference-in-difference models, to measure the effect on forest loss of an initiative that titled indigenous communities in a single province of Ecuador (Morona-Santiago) during the early 2000s. They find no evidence that titling reduced forest loss in the 5 y after title was awarded.…”

Section: Evidence Basementioning

confidence: 99%

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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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Section: Evidence Basementioning

confidence: 44%

Section: Evidence Basementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evidence Basementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Titling indigenous communities protects forests in the Peruvian Amazon

Blackman

Corral

Lima

et al. 2017

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

256

138

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…reducing deforestation) has been the objective of a variety of tenure reforms, which have often been costly and have taken long periods of time to yield results. Evidence of the success of these programs is limited, with some studies finding success in tenure devolution programs [12] and others finding they may not have had their desired effects [13]. Property rights schemes inappropriate to particular resources or social-ecological context may cause tenure insecurity and other undesired outcomes as assessed through analysis of local conflict, policy enforcement, displacement, or incidence of squatting [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What are the environmental impacts of property rights regimes in forests, fisheries and rangelands?

et al. 2017

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Background: Property rights to natural resources comprise a major policy instrument in efforts to advance sustainable resource use and conservation. Debate over the relative effectiveness of different property rights regimes in reaching these goals remains controversial. A large, diverse, and rapidly growing body of literature investigates the links between property rights regimes and environmental outcomes, but has not synthesized theoretical and policy insights within specific resource systems and especially across resource systems. Methods:We conducted a systematic review following CEE Guidelines in which we collected empirical evidence from the past two decades on the environmental impacts of property rights regimes in fisheries, forests and rangelands in developing countries. We used a bundle of rights approach to assess the impacts of state, private, and community property regimes, as well as mixed regimes and open access conditions. Outcomes were classified as positive, negative, neutral or undetermined. We also collected information on contextual and other factors thought to influence effect of property rights regimes on environmental outcomes. The search covered 90 online databases and three languages, resulting in a total of 34,984 screened titles.Results: This review identified 103 articles consisting of 374 property regime studies: 55% of the studies related to forestry, 31% to fisheries, and 14% to rangelands. The majority of the studies comprised case-control studies but presented limited information on the baseline condition of the resource system. Only 26 studies used before-aftercontrol-impact (BACI) design. We found that property regime comparisons differed across resource domains with, for example, the majority of fisheries studies using comparison to an open access situation while forest and rangeland studies were more mixed in regime comparisons. After critical appraisal of included studies, only 80 studies were accepted for the narrative synthesis. The key contextual factors largely associated with reported positive environmental outcomes across the three resource systems included monitoring and enforcement systems, resource use pressure, and the presence or absence of clear, stable and legitimate rights (i.e. 'positive regime characteristics').

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“…Some research documents positive relationships between tenure security and land investments that can benefit people and nature, like soil conservation or planting trees (Holden et al 2009;Otsuka & Place 2015). In other cases, securing tenure seems to have little effect on conservation outcomes (Gavian & Fafchamps 1996;Buntaine et al 2015), and in some examples the causality is reversed: investments like tree planting are made to denote property borders and thus secure land tenure itself (Besley 1995;Deininger & Jin 2006;Fenske 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incorporating Land Tenure Security into Conservation

Robinson

Masuda

Kelly

et al. 2017

CONSERVATION LETTERS

140

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Insecure land tenure plagues many developing and tropical regions, often where conservation concerns are highest. Conservation organizations have long focused on protected areas as tenure interventions, but are now thinking more comprehensively about whether and how to incorporate other land tenure strategies into their work, and how to more soundly ground such interventions on evidence of both conservation and human benefits. Through a review of the literature on land tenure security as it relates to conservation practice, predominantly in the tropics, we aim to help conservation practitioners consider and incorporate more appropriate land tenure security interventions into conservation strategies. We present a framework that identifies three common ways in which land tenure security can impact human and conservation outcomes, and suggest practical ways to distill tenure and tenure security issues for a given location. We conclude with steps for considering tenure security issues in the context of conservation projects and identify areas for future research.

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Titling community land to prevent deforestation: An evaluation of a best-case program in Morona-Santiago, Ecuador

Cited by 89 publications

References 73 publications

Titling indigenous communities protects forests in the Peruvian Amazon

Titling indigenous communities protects forests in the Peruvian Amazon

What are the environmental impacts of property rights regimes in forests, fisheries and rangelands?

Incorporating Land Tenure Security into Conservation

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