Agro–economic determinants of violations of protected areas in Western Africa

Despite protected areas are a useful instrument for preserving locations with a high natural value, violations are frequent, endangering their primary scope. Encroachment, the use of land inside protected areas for agricultural purposes, is a common violation. The present paper investigates the determinants of encroachment in eight Western African countries, with a broad coverage rarely seen in previous research on the topic. The focus is placed on the agro–economic determinants, in the form of average characteristics of rural households living in the proximity of protected areas. The analysis is performed through a Tobit model, with OLS, Probit and Poisson regressions used as robustness checks. Protected areas in locations with a strong agricultural vocation or with a high percentage of protected land are more likely to be subject to violations. Furthermore, economic deprivation and land profitability are other two mild drivers of encroachment together with mechanization. Other indicators of modern practices such as irrigation and use of inorganic fertilizers, instead, do not increase the probability of violations to protected areas. Furthermore, husbandry is a significant determinant of encroachment, but only when involving cattle, while specializing in certain types of crops, e.g. cereals, vegetables or cash crops, does not affect the probability of violations.