scholarly journals Formalizing land rights can reduce forest loss: Experimental evidence from Benin

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (26) ◽  
pp. eabb6914
Author(s):  
Liam Wren-Lewis ◽  
Luis Becerra-Valbuena ◽  
Kenneth Houngbedji

Many countries are formalizing customary land rights systems with the aim of improving agricultural productivity and facilitating community forest management. This paper evaluates the impact on tree cover loss of the first randomized control trial of such a program. Around 70,000 landholdings were demarcated and registered in randomly chosen villages in Benin, a country with a high rate of deforestation driven by demand for agricultural land. We estimate that the program reduced the area of forest loss in treated villages, with no evidence of anticipatory deforestation or negative spillovers to other areas. Surveys indicate that possible mechanisms include an increase in tenure security and an improvement in the effectiveness of community forest management. Overall, our results suggest that formalizing customary land rights in rural areas can be an effective way to reduce forest loss while improving agricultural investments.

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (29) ◽  
pp. e2015172118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Eisenbarth ◽  
Louis Graham ◽  
Anouk S. Rigterink

Rapid deforestation is a major driver of greenhouse-gas emissions (1). One proposed policy tool to halt deforestation is community forest management. Even though communities manage an increasing proportion of the world’s forests, we lack good evidence of successful approaches to community forest management. Prior studies suggest that successful approaches require a number of “design conditions” to be met. However, causal evidence on the effectiveness of individual design conditions is scarce. This study isolates one design condition, community-led monitoring of the forest, and provides causal evidence on its potential to reduce forest use. The study employs a randomized controlled trial to investigate the impact of community monitoring on forest use in 110 villages in Uganda. We explore the impact of community monitoring in both monitored and unmonitored areas of the forest, using exceptionally detailed data from on-the-ground measurements and satellite imagery. Estimates indicate that community monitoring does not affect our main outcome of interest, a forest-use index. However, treatment villages see a relative increase in forest loss outside of monitored forest areas compared to control villages. This increase is seen both in nonmonitored areas adjacent to treatment villages and in nonmonitored areas adjacent to neighboring villages not included in the study. We tentatively conclude that at least part of the increase in forest loss in nonmonitored areas is due to displacement of forest use by members of treatment villages due to fear of sanctions. Interventions to reduce deforestation should take this potentially substantial effect into consideration.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Rio Yudischa ◽  
Christine Wulandari ◽  
Rudi Hilmanto

Community Forest (HKM) is a community development schemes through strengthening factors of production of non-timber forest products in the form of access to forest lands, protected primary forest. It is not yet known impact of women's participation in community forest management on family income in the village Tribudi Syukur and Tribudi Makmur. To the end, the research conducted in order to know the impact of demographic and participation of women in community forest management on family income in the village Tribudi Syukur and Tribudi Makmur, Kebun Tebu sub district, West Lampung, Lampung province. This research was conducted in the Community Forest, at Village Tribudi Syukur and Tribudi Makmur. Data retrieved using the method of data collection simple random sampling. Analysis of data used linear models was assisted using Minitab 16 software for parameter optimization. The results showed that the factor land size and income of women farmers with a significant effect on the income of women's participation in community forest management. Meanwhile, the chief factor of the family, the woman's age, the age of the male, female participation rates, female education, male education, number of dependents, and the distance to the arable land were not significantly associated with women's participation in the management of the community forest income.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13474
Author(s):  
Siriluck Thammanu ◽  
Hee Han ◽  
E. M. B. P. Ekanayake ◽  
Yoonkoo Jung ◽  
Joosang Chung

Forest ecosystems provide myriad services that are beneficial to local livelihoods. Successful community forest management (CFM) enhances the provision, overall benefit, and effectiveness of the regulation of ecosystem services and contributes to forest conservation efforts. The study area was a deciduous forest in the Ban Mae Chiang Rai Lum Community Forest, which is located in Pa Mae Phrik National Forest Reserve in Thailand’s northern province of Lampang. A systematic sampling of the forest area was conducted, and survey plots were established. A field survey documented 197 plant species from 62 families. A questionnaire that focused on CFM engagement behavior and ecosystem service satisfaction levels was used to interview household representatives. The study found that levels of engagement and the effectiveness of forest management were directly related; increased CFM effectiveness leads to improved ecosystem services. Participation in CFM can improve ecosystem services and enhance livelihoods. Specifically, participation in decision making, forest fire management, check dam construction, benefit sharing, and in forming effective forest regulations positively impacted ecosystem services. In contrast, employing forest patrols adversely affected those services. This knowledge is useful for identifying policies and practices that can maximize ecosystem services to enhance livelihoods and safeguard the forest’s vitality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 3226
Author(s):  
Daniel Cunningham ◽  
Paul Cunningham ◽  
Matthew E. Fagan

Global tree cover products face challenges in accurately predicting tree cover across biophysical gradients, such as precipitation or agricultural cover. To generate a natural forest cover map for Costa Rica, biases in tree cover estimation in the most widely used tree cover product (the Global Forest Change product (GFC) were quantified and corrected, and the impact of map biases on estimates of forest cover and fragmentation was examined. First, a forest reference dataset was developed to examine how the difference between reference and GFC-predicted tree cover estimates varied along gradients of precipitation and elevation, and nonlinear statistical models were fit to predict the bias. Next, an agricultural land cover map was generated by classifying Landsat and ALOS PalSAR imagery (overall accuracy of 97%) to allow removing six common agricultural crops from estimates of tree cover. Finally, the GFC product was corrected through an integrated process using the nonlinear predictions of precipitation and elevation biases and the agricultural crop map as inputs. The accuracy of tree cover prediction increased by ≈29% over the original global forest change product (the R2 rose from 0.416 to 0.538). Using an optimized 89% tree cover threshold to create a forest/nonforest map, we found that fragmentation declined and core forest area and connectivity increased in the corrected forest cover map, especially in dry tropical forests, protected areas, and designated habitat corridors. By contrast, the core forest area decreased locally where agricultural fields were removed from estimates of natural tree cover. This research demonstrates a simple, transferable methodology to correct for observed biases in the Global Forest Change product. The use of uncorrected tree cover products may markedly over- or underestimate forest cover and fragmentation, especially in tropical regions with low precipitation, significant topography, and/or perennial agricultural production.


Author(s):  
Siriluck Thammanu ◽  
Hee Han ◽  
Dokrak Marod ◽  
Liangzhen Zang ◽  
Yoonkoo Jung ◽  
...  

1970 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.P. Acharya ◽  
K.R. Goutam ◽  
B.K. Acharya ◽  
G. Gautam

The Community Forestry has been the most effective means of managing common forest resources in Nepal. Besides rehabilitating degraded hills, improving environment and contributing to the rural livelihoods, community forestry is claimed to be a major means of biodiversity conservation. It is also argued that the prevalent approach of community forest management threats to the conservation of biodiversity. This paper is based on the findings from two community forest user groups from Central Nepal and argues that the users’ innovative practices of active forest management favor biodiversity conservation. The study has documented users’ innovations to conserve biodiversity in community managed forests. Key words: Nepal, community forestry, biodiversity conservation and livelihoods Banko Janakari Vol.16(1) 2006 pp46-56


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