Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
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Daily Overview |
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Land Use 1: Sustainable Tropical Forestry Location: B010 Session Chair: Beate Deixelberger, University of Graz | |
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Do trees grow better on certified land? Evidence from a smallholder program in Madagascar University of Goettingen, Germany This paper examines whether land certification enhances the effectiveness of reforestation programs. Specifically, we ask whether securing a land certificate (i) improves tree growth on reforested plots and (ii) affects associated socio-economic outcomes. We study the Programme de Lutte Anti-Érosive (PLAE), a smallholder forest restoration initiative implemented in northern and northwestern Madagascar between 2014 and 2019. Using primary household survey data combined with geospatial data, we employ a quasi-experimental strategy that leverages variation in the presence of overlapping historical colonial and post-colonial land titles, which continue to impede land formalization today. We find that successful land certification significantly increases tree growth and maintenance activities and reduces fire damage, consistent with enhanced investment incentives. However, certification also increases reported tree theft and has no detectable effect on perceived tenure security, charcoal-related income, or broader welfare outcomes. These findings highlight both the potential and the limitations of land rights formalization in weak institutional and market environments. | |