Conference Agenda

Livelihood development interventions for forest-dependent communities seek to improve access to public goods and services and ensure income security in remote forest areas. Estimating causal effects of such interventions requires careful attention to institutions. This paper evaluates the impact of a multi-component livelihood development intervention implemented in Forest Villages of Madhya Pradesh state, central India: a distinct forest administration classification with colonial land-tenure arrangements. Tribal communities of these villages under strict forest protection have historically remained outside the jurisdiction of India’s traditional revenue administration and its planned development benefits. Using ex-ante matching on a spatially explicit village-level panel dataset and a weighted difference-in-differences strategy, our findings show that the livelihood development programme raised workforce participation for both men and women and shifted labor composition towards cultivation and household industry work.These effects are consistent with programme-induced land-use changes in favor of unirrigated cultivated land without a statistically significant decline in forest land share and forest cover. Average effects on night lights, social infrastructure and road connectivity, however, were weak or negative with significant institutional heterogeneity. The paper provides novel evidence that historically created administrative classifications shape the effectiveness of public service delivery in forest-dependent communities.

Unilateral forest protection can result in cross-border leakage, raising concerns about its global effectiveness. We present a theoretical framework demonstrating that unilateral conservation may either be undermined by production shifts abroad or preserved when trading partners undertake even limited or asymmetric conservation efforts. Using a global region–year panel from 2001 to 2019 and a shift–share instrumental variable based on policy-induced import-demand shocks, we find that increases in timber exports driven by conservation-induced demand adjustments are linked to measurable reductions in forest cover in exporting regions, particularly in settings characterized by limited regulatory capacity. Combining domestic gains with estimated changes in these regions, we calculate that 42–45% of domestic forest recovery is offset through market adjustments. These findings suggest that unilateral conservation may experience leakage in a globally integrated economy, yet its net contribution remains positive, and broader cooperation—even if partial or uneven—can meaningfully enhance global conservation outcomes.

State decentralization is often promoted as a way to improve public service delivery. However, its effects on forests are ambiguous. Decentralization can improve local forest governance, but also change the incentives to promote agricultural expansion into forests. This study focuses on the power devolution stemming from the proliferation of new administrative units in Indonesia during the last two decades. Using a spatial boundary discontinuity design with 14,000 Indonesian villages, we analyze the effects of 115 district splits between 2002 and 2014. Results show a 35% deforestation decline at the border of new (child) districts relative to the existing (mother) districts both immediately before and after the district split. In pre-split years, we observe agricultural divestment by the mother districts on territories that are soon to be lost. In post-split years, the short-term forest conservation benefits are neither rooted in an increased social cohesion, nor stronger development. Instead, newly formed districts might suffer from temporary administrative incapacity to attract large-scale agricultural investments. In the long run, no lasting local forest conservation benefits persist as deforestation equalizes between child and mother districts a few years later.

Women have historically played a crucial role in forest development, yet persistent gender disparities limit their access to land and decision-making. In Mexico, while women constitute 50.5\% of the population in forested areas, only 26\% hold rights to agrarian nuclei property. Despite growing recognition of their effectiveness in resource management, their underrepresentation in land governance remains a challenge for sustainable development. This paper examines the impact of female participation in agrarian nuclei committees on deforestation rates in Mexico. Leveraging the 2016 Agrarian Law, which introduced gender quotas for candidate nominations, we employ a staggered event-study methodology to estimate the causal effect of increased female representation on forest conservation. Using data from agrarian nuclei with forest cover between 2012 and 2013, our findings reveal a significant 6\% reduction in annual deforestation rates, particularly in smaller agrarian nuclei. These results underscore the potential of gender-inclusive policies to enhance environmental sustainability. By contributing to the literature on gender quotas, forest governance, and sustainable land management, this study highlights the importance of strengthening women's role in decision-making processes to promote forest conservation.