Effects of Public Policies in Central America and Mexico on Deforestation

and Reforestation Trends

Amelia Min-Venditti, Dr. Forrest FleischmanEcosystem Science & Management

Texas A&M University

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Forest Cover Change

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Figure 1. Conceptual Diagram of Drivers and Policy Case

Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Forest Cover Change

Forest Cover Change

= E(Payments for Ecosystem Services)

+ E(Protected Areas)

+ E(Agricultural Subsidies)

+ E(Community-Based Management)

+ E(other policies)

+ E(non-policy social drivers)

+ E(Biophysical Drivers)

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Forest Cover Change

Forest Cover Change

= E(Payments for Ecosystem Services)

+ E(Protected Areas)

+ E(Agricultural Subsidies)

+ E(Community-Based Management)

+ E(other policies)

+ E(non-policy social drivers)

+ E(Biophysical Drivers)

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Research Question

What does existing literature tell us about the impact of public policies on forest cover

change in Mesoamerica?

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Methods

• deforest* AND ("Costa Rica" OR Mexico OR Guatemala OR Honduras OR "El Salvador" OR Nicaragua OR Belize OR Panama OR "Central America" OR "Mesoamerica" OR "the Americas") AND ("pay* for eco* service*" OR "PES" OR "environment* service*" OR "compensation" OR "reward" OR "Pigouvian" OR "protect* area*" OR park* OR forest* OR ban OR law OR REDD* OR "reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation" OR "carbon credit" OR "carbon sequest*" OR "carbon trading" OR "carbon market*" OR "environment* polic*" OR "polit* eco*" OR conserv* OR "common pool resource*" OR "LUCC" OR "LCS")

• searched in the following databases: Web of Science, CAB abstrats, GreenFILE, Cusiness Source Complete, EconLit, Environment Abstracts, Environment Complete, Ag Econ, worldcat, AGRIS, and ProQuest dissertations and theses global.

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Methods

Policy Classes• Protected Areas• Market-based Conservation• Community-Based Management• Agricultural Subsidies

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Descriptive statistics

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Temporal Distribution

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Intellectual Distribution

78 were found in 62 journals with 1 or 2 incidences

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Geographic Distribution

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Geographic Distribution

Forest area data from World Bank

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Geographic Distribution

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Effects of Policies

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Effects of Policies

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Effects of Policies

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Effects of Policies

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Summary

• >90% of studies do not enable us to measure policy impact on forest cover

• Several regions are understudied• Strong supportive evidence of PES’ positive impact on

forest cover• Other policy types have ambiguous outcomes• Little study of agriculture and social programs’ impacts

on forest cover

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Research Agenda

• Need to develop systematic studies looking at the interactions of policies within well-defined sub-regions.

• Investigations should more carefully examine the impacts of agriculture & social programs

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Thank you!

• Dr. Forrest Fleischman

• Dr. Georgianne W. Moore

• Xavier Jaime

• Jenni Simonsen

• David Switzer

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Effect of Policy by Class

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

FindingsForest Cover Change Outcome

Policy Type + No change - Total

Agricultural Subsidy 4 2 19 25

Community-based Management 24 4 3 31

Deforestation Regulation 7 2 4 13

Land Tenure 14 2 25 41

Market-based Conservation 23 3 0 26

Protected Areas 44 10 13 67

Socioeconomic 9 1 13 23

Total 125 24 77 226

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Effects of policies in histograms

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Effects of policies in histograms

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Introduction Methods Findings Conclusion

Effects of Policies

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