11/15/2018 Forest conservation can have greater ecological impacts by allowing sustainable harvesting: Forest owners at greater risk

eater risk of causing de…

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Forest conservation can have greater ecological impacts by

allowing sustainable harvesting
Forest owners at greater risk of causing deforestation are more likely to participate in
conservation programs when controlled harvesting is allowed, new research shows

Date: January 31, 2018

Source: University of Missouri-Columbia

Summary: New research has found that forest owners at greater risk of illegally cutting trees from their forests
prefer to participate in conservation programs that allow sustainable timber harvesting. The findings
of the study could be used to craft conservation contracts that are more likely to be accepted by
forest owners and might succeed in preventing deforestation and forest degradation.

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FULL STORY

New research at the University of Missouri has found that forest owners at greater risk of
illegally cutting trees from their forests prefer to participate in conservation programs that
allow sustainable timber harvesting. The findings of the study, conducted by Francisco
Aguilar and Phillip Mohebalian, could be used to craft conservation contracts that are
more likely to be accepted by forest owners and might succeed in preventing
deforestation and forest degradation.

Ecuador contains approximately 2 percent of the Amazon basin, but hosts 44 percent of the Amazon's bird
species and enormous tree diversity. To prevent deforestation and degredation, Ecuador's national government
developed the Socio Bosque program, a conservation program that pays private forest landowners to protect their
forests.

"Money has an effect, but it's not everything," said Aguilar, associate professor of forestry at the School of Natural
Resources in MU's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. "We found that among high-risk forest
owners, long-term contracts that allow sustainable timber harvesting are more agreeable. On the other hand,
forest owners at lower risk preferred programs that have short-term contracts and offer greater financial
incentives."

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In 2016, a report by the Brazilian government found that the rate of deforestation in the Amazon had increased by
29 percent on top of a 24 percent rise the year before, indicating a rapidly accelerating pace of forest loss. Still, the
rate remains lower than it had been more than a decade ago, before anti-deforestation policies were introduced. In
spite of these laws, primary forests continue to be logged illegally, causing forest degradation.

Aguilar and Mohebalian administered surveys to owners and surveyed forests in Ecuador over the course of nine
months. The participants were presented with hypothetical contracts based on the Socio Bosque program.
Landowners preferred contracts with longer durations and allowances for controlled timber harvesting, even if
those contracts offered less monetary compensation. They also preferred contracts issued by local governments
or non-governmental organizations (NGO's) compared to those issued by the Ecuadorian national government.

An important aspect of the study was its focus on forests at a high risk of deforestation, as owners of these forests
are traditionally less likely to participate in conservation programs.

"Conservation programs often are biased toward protecting areas that are ecologically important, but have lesser
economic value in alternative land use options," said Mohebalian, who worked on the research while completing
his doctorate at MU. "Low-risk forest owners often are more willing to receive money in exchange for enrolling their
forests in conservation, because they would have conserved their forests even without the additional incentives.
We wanted to evaluate how a conservation program could reverse that bias, so we looked at the design of
conservation contracts that appeal to forest owners who are most likely to cause deforestation or degradation in
the future."

Based on the results of the study, Aguilar suggests more private funding from corporations and international
organizations would help ease the financial burden on the Ecuadorian government, especially since landowners
often view outside organizations as more economically reliable than the central government. This likely accounts
for their preference for contracts administered by NGO's and local governments.

The study, "Design of tropical forest conservation contracts considering risk of deforestation," was published in
Land Use Policy. Funding was provided by MU's Research Board and Research Council, the MU School of
Natural Resources and a Dorris D. and Christine M. Brown Fellowship, as well as by grants from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture National Needs Fellowship (grant number 2009-38420-05650) and the USDA
International Science and Education program (grant number 2011-51160-30529). The content is solely the
responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies.

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Missouri-Columbia. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

1. Phillip M. Mohebalian, Francisco X. Aguilar. Design of tropical forest conservation contracts considering
risk of deforestation. Land Use Policy, 2018; 70: 451 DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.11.008

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University of Missouri-Columbia. "Forest conservation can have greater ecological impacts by allowing sustainable
harvesting: Forest owners at greater risk of causing deforestation are more likely to participate in conservation
programs when controlled harvesting is allowed, new research shows." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 31 January
2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180131133329.htm>.

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