MSc thesis topic: Assessing correlation between land use change and cash transfer interventions

The aid organization GiveDirectly implements various cash transfer programmes in multiple SSA countries that are intended to be unconditional, giving recipients the freedom to spend money as they choose. But we are also interested in the question of whether such payments can also have environmental benefits in terms of allow recipients to not have to depend on unsustainable exploitation of local resources. But it is possible that the opposite outcome might occur, in that payment recipients might use their funds to purchase labour or equipment allowing them to exploit resources more efficiently than before. His project aims to test which if any of these outcomes can be observed through remote sensing analysis of land use change in spaces near communities in which GiveDirectly has distributed cash transfers relative to untreated communities that have been designated control groups in the organisation’s monitoring and evaluation protocols. This will be based on a dataset provided by GiveDirectly identifying sites of cash transfer interventions, exact location still to be decided. The project can potentially also include a fieldwork component to assess local conditions, depending on the site(s) chosen.

Background

Global biodiversity is imperiled, with growing concerns that we are in the midst of a sixth extinction crisis. This has inspired mounting dissatisfaction with current conservation policies and calls for transformative change. One concern identified by such calls as requiring urgent reform has been conservation organizations’ promotion of market-based instruments (MBIs) as part of a broader effort to address poverty alleviation alongside environmental protection. These include payment for environmental services (PES) programmes (which aim to incentivize conservation by paying forest owners to conserve resources rather than convert their land to more destructive uses), more than 500 of which are currently operative worldwide. Yet growing evidence suggests that most such MBIs have fallen far short of their aims. To address these issues, innovative solutions that effectively reconcile biodiversity conservation with pursuit of social justice are urgently needed. One promising new potential is what we call a ‘conservation basic income’ (CBI). This idea builds on a substantial body of research demonstrating that cash transfer programmes (CTPs) introduced in many low-income societies have proven effective for poverty reduction and enhancing wellbeing. Yet, both CTPs and PES schemes generally demand behavioural modification of programme recipients via ‘conditionality’, the ethics of which have been questioned by proponents of ‘universal basic income’ (UBI), who advocate provision of an unconditional payment covering the basic needs of everyone within a given social unit. Moreover, neither UBI nor CTPs usually address environmental protection alongside poverty alleviation. Meanwhile, others have questioned the extent to which unconditional payments can achieve conservation gains in the absence of behavioural modification requirements. Available empirical evidence concerning the environmental impacts of existing unconditional CTPs not explicitly linked to conservation aims is mixed, with some programmes indicating positive impacts and others the reverse. Yet research concerning CTPs generally suggests that unconditional programmes can often achieve similar gains as conditional programmes. This signals the need to better understand which conditions or constraints influence whether CTPs positively or negatively impact surrounding ecosystems.

Relevance to research/projects at GRS or other groups

This project relates to the research project CONNECT funded by the Wageningen Global Sustainability Programme

Objectives

• To assess whether meaningful land use change can be detected in relation to cash transfer interventions
• To asses the impact cash transfers may have on local environmental conditions.

Research questions

• Can land use change be observed near areas subject to cash transfer interventions?
• If so, what is the correlation between cash transfer interventions and local land use change?

Requirements

• Proficiency in remote sensing methodology

Literature and information

• Fletcher, R., & Büscher, B. (2020). Conservation basic income: A non-market mechanism to support convivial conservation. Biological Conservation, 244, 108520.
• MacNeill, T., & C. Drummond. (2024). Green basic income: Evaluating the Bolsa Verde project in the Brazilian Amazon. Basic Income Studies.
• MacNeill, T., and A. Vibert. 2019. “Universal Basic Income and the Natural Environment: Theory and Policy.” Basic Income Studies, 14(1), 1–8.

Theme(s): Sensing & measuring; Human – space interaction