Effectiveness of community forest management at reducing deforestation in Madagascar

TY - JOUR

T1 - Effectiveness of community forest management at reducing deforestation in Madagascar

AU - Rasolofoson, Ranaivo Andriarilala

AU - Ferraro, Paul J.

AU - Jenkins, Clinton N.

AU - Jones, Julia P.G.

PY - 2015/4/1

Y1 - 2015/4/1

N2 - Community Forest Management (CFM) is a widespread conservation approach in the tropics. It is also promoted as a means by which payment for ecosystem services schemes can be implemented. However, evidence on its performance is weak. We investigated the effectiveness of CFM at reducing deforestation from 2000 to 2010 in Madagascar. To control for factors confounding impact estimates, we used statistical matching. We also contrasted the effects of CFM by whether commercial use of forest resources is allowed or not. We cannot detect an effect, on average, of CFM compared to no CFM, even when we restricted the sample to only where information suggests effective CFM implementation on the ground. Likewise, we cannot detect an effect of CFM where commercial use of natural resources is allowed. However, we can detect a reduction in deforestation in CFM that does not permit commercial uses, compared to no CFM or CFM allowing commercial uses. Our findings suggest that CFM and commercial use of forest resources are not guarantees of forest conservation and that differentiating among types of CFM is important.

AB - Community Forest Management (CFM) is a widespread conservation approach in the tropics. It is also promoted as a means by which payment for ecosystem services schemes can be implemented. However, evidence on its performance is weak. We investigated the effectiveness of CFM at reducing deforestation from 2000 to 2010 in Madagascar. To control for factors confounding impact estimates, we used statistical matching. We also contrasted the effects of CFM by whether commercial use of forest resources is allowed or not. We cannot detect an effect, on average, of CFM compared to no CFM, even when we restricted the sample to only where information suggests effective CFM implementation on the ground. Likewise, we cannot detect an effect of CFM where commercial use of natural resources is allowed. However, we can detect a reduction in deforestation in CFM that does not permit commercial uses, compared to no CFM or CFM allowing commercial uses. Our findings suggest that CFM and commercial use of forest resources are not guarantees of forest conservation and that differentiating among types of CFM is important.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - Community Forest Management

KW - Deforestation

KW - Impact Evaluation

KW - Matching

KW - Madagascar

KW - Payments for Ecosystem Services

U2 - 10.1016/j.biocon.2015.01.027

DO - 10.1016/j.biocon.2015.01.027

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0006-3207

VL - 184

SP - 271

EP - 277

JO - Biological Conservation

JF - Biological Conservation

ER -