Beyond Ostrom: Randomized experiment of the impact of individualized tree rights on forest management in Ethiopia

Ryo Takahashi, Keijiro Otsuka (), Mesfin Tilahun, Emiru Birhane and Stein Holden ()

World Development, 2024, vol. 178, issue C

Abstract: We argue that while community forest management is effective in protecting forest resources, as argued by Ostrom, such management may fail to provide the proper incentives to nurture such resources because the benefits of forest management are collectively shared. This study proposes a mixed private and community management system characterized by communal protection of community-owned forest areas and individual management of individually owned trees as a desirable arrangement for timber forest management in developing countries. By conducting a randomized experiment in Ethiopia, we found that the mixed management system significantly stimulated intensive forest management activities, including pruning, guarding, and watering. Furthermore, more timber trees and forest products were extracted from the treated areas, which are byproducts of tree management (e.g., thinned trees and pruned branches). In contrast, the extracted volumes of non-timber forest products unrelated to tree management (fodder and honey) did not change with the intervention.

Keywords: Property regimes; Individual rights; Commons; Community forest management; RCT (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 P48 Q23 Q24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Beyond Ostrom: Randomized Experiment of the Impact of Individualized Tree Rights on Forest Management in Ethiopia (2021)
Working Paper: Beyond Ostrom: Randomized Experiment of the Impact of Individualized Tree Rights on Forest Management in Ethiopia (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:178:y:2024:i:c:s0305750x24000561

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106586

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