Forest Conservation and Labor Markets

Protecting tropical forests offers great potential to cut carbon emissions, promote biodiversity conservation and improve the livelihoods of rural populations. Many conservation programs aim to “divert” labor away from forest clearing towards alternative (economic) activities. We use a difference-in-difference framework to evaluate the short-term and long-term impacts of a large-scale voluntary REDD+ project in Sierra Leone on both conservation and socio-economic outcomes. Using a panel of satellite imagery and detailed household surveys we find the program on average helped slow deforestation in the short-term, but not in the long-term. To understand mechanisms, interpretation of the data is guided by a theoretical model. Consistent with expectations we document that conservation impacts critically depend on factor market imperfections, so that long-term outcomes depend on how these markets evolve over time.

The seminar series is organized by the Section Economics of Wageningen University (consisting of the groups Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy, Development Economics, Urban Economics, Environmental Economics and Natural Resources, and Economic and Environmental History).

The seminar is aiming to foster the exchange on recent topics in the field of economics. We consider contributions from all fields of economic research and invite speakers from Wageningen, the Netherlands and abroad.

The seminar is organized as a weekly lunch seminar taking place on campus. Meetings are between 12:00 and 13:00 hours. Lunch is served. 

All staff and students are welcome!