Examining the Effects of Agricultural Aid on Forests in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Causal Analysis Based on Remotely Sensed Data of Sierra Leone

Qingqian He, Qing Meng, William Flatley and Yaqian He
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Qingqian He: School of Political Science and Public Administration, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing 102249, China
Qing Meng: Department of International Relations, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
William Flatley: Department of Geography, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR 72035, USA
Yaqian He: Department of Geography, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR 72035, USA

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: In sub-Saharan Africa, extreme poverty highlights the tension between development aid and the environment. Foreign aid is considered one of the most important factors affecting forest health in this region. Although many studies have empirically examined the effects of different kinds of foreign aid on forests, few have investigated the potential impact of agricultural aid. This study investigated the causal effects of agricultural aid on forests in Sierra Leone, a country that relies heavily on agricultural products. We constructed a fine-grained (16-day) indicator of forest growth from 2001 to 2015 by combining remotely sensed data of land cover and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. The high frequency of forest growth data enables us to trace the dynamic causal process. To reduce the confounding effects of heterogeneity, we applied a difference-in-difference design with data at the sub-national level to estimate the causal effect. This study provides robust empirical evidence that foreign agricultural aid harms forests both in the short term (i.e., 16 days) and long term (i.e., years) in Sierra Leone. Agricultural aid projects with agricultural development as their primary objective or aid projects without specific objectives lead to the highest levels of forest degradation.

Keywords: agricultural aid; forest protection; remote sensing; environmental influence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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