The Impact of Protected Areas on Deforestation: An Exploration of the Economic and Political Channels for Madagascar’s Rainforests (2001-12)

Sébastien Desbureaux, Sigrid Aubert, Laura Brimont, Alain Karsenty, Alexio Clovis Lohanivo, Manohisoa Rakotondrabe, Andrianjakarivo Henintsoa Razafindraibe and Jules Razafiarijaona
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Sigrid Aubert: Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement
Laura Brimont: IDDRI - Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Paris
Alain Karsenty: Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement
Alexio Clovis Lohanivo: Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement
Manohisoa Rakotondrabe: ESSA - Université d'Antananarivo
Andrianjakarivo Henintsoa Razafindraibe: ESSA - Université d'Antananarivo
Jules Razafiarijaona: ESSA - Université d'Antananarivo

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Abstract: Protected areas (PAs) remain the primary conservation instrument of Madagascar's unique but threatened biodiversity. We combine matching and panel regressions in a quasi-natural experiment setting to analyze PAs' environmental effectiveness annually between 2001 and 2012 and study two channels that moderate the impact: initial poverty rates and local variations in law enforcement. Our findings show that PAs have stabilized deforestation around a positive trend without having halted it. Their overall environmental impact is however limited: PAs created before the 2000 have helped to slow down deforestation by approximately 20%, meaning that 80% of forests are still cleared even though they are protected. As for new PA created from the mid-2000s, the early impact is statistically not significant. As a result, the total welfare impact of protection is currently uncertain. We show that PAs have been effective for municipalities where overall law enforcement was the lowest: PAs have helped to limit what we call opportunistic deforestation. Meanwhile, PAs have been poorly effective when poverty rates were high: when necessity is the driver of deforestation, PAs are not sufficient to slow down deforestation. As a consequence, effectively stopping deforestation in Madagascar will require ambitious policies to trigger the necessary agricultural transition for the country.

Keywords: Impact Evaluation; Protected Areas; Africa; Madagascar (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-02-25
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
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Working Paper: The Impact of Protected Areas on Deforestation: An Exploration of the Economic and Political Channels for Madagascar’s Rainforests (2001-12) (2016)
Working Paper: The impact of Protected Areas on Deforestation? An Exploration of the Economic and Political Channels for Madagascar's Rainforests (2001-12) (2015)
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