IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v129y2020ics0305750x19305030.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Property rights and deforestation: Evidence from the Terra Legal land reform in the Brazilian Amazon

Author

Listed:
  • Lipscomb, Molly
  • Prabakaran, Niveditha

Abstract

This paper estimates the early impacts of Terra Legal, a large property rights reform, on deforestation and farming in the Brazilian Amazon. Twelve and a half million hectares, more than 2.5% of the Brazilian Amazon, have been registered under this program. The establishment of property rights may increase a farmer’s incentive to invest in his land and expand his farm due to a lower risk of expropriation. On the other hand, the enforcement of conservation requirements may be easier when farmers have legal titles to their land. We use county level data from 2007 to 2012 on farm registrations, deforestation, crop choice and bovine management to test the impact of the Terra Legal land reform. While we find no overall impact of the program on deforestation during the period in our sample, we do show that there is substantial heterogeneity in impacts across counties. Counties with the largest area registered do have an increase in the level of area deforested, but they also have a decrease in the rate of deforestation. We investigate the extent to which changes in deforestation are related to the amount of registration that occurs among small, medium and large farms, and find limited support for less deforestation among counties with more area registered by small farms; more area registered by large farms is associated with a higher level of deforestation, but a decreased deforestation rate. Our results suggest that land tenure reform can create incentives to decelerate deforestation. Farm size has a strong impact on the farm management changes generated by improved property rights; coupling land tenure reforms with incentives to intensify production rather than expand could lead to reduced deforestation, particularly among small farms.

Suggested Citation

  • Lipscomb, Molly & Prabakaran, Niveditha, 2020. "Property rights and deforestation: Evidence from the Terra Legal land reform in the Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:129:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x19305030
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104854
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X19305030
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104854?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Araujo, Claudio & Bonjean, Catherine Araujo & Combes, Jean-Louis & Combes Motel, Pascale & Reis, Eustaquio J., 2009. "Property rights and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2461-2468, June.
    2. Duchelle, Amy E. & Cromberg, Marina & Gebara, Maria Fernanda & Guerra, Raissa & Melo, Tadeu & Larson, Anne & Cronkleton, Peter & Börner, Jan & Sills, Erin & Wunder, Sven & Bauch, Simone & May, Peter &, 2014. "Linking Forest Tenure Reform, Environmental Compliance, and Incentives: Lessons from REDD+ Initiatives in the Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 53-67.
    3. Alston, Lee J. & Libecap, Gary D. & Mueller, Bernardo, 1999. "A model of rural conflict: violence and land reform policy in Brazil," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 135-160, May.
    4. Elías Cisneros & Sophie Lian Zhou & Jan Börner, 2015. "Naming and Shaming for Conservation: Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-24, September.
    5. Walker, Robert & Moran, Emilio & Anselin, Luc, 2000. "Deforestation and Cattle Ranching in the Brazilian Amazon: External Capital and Household Processes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 683-699, April.
    6. BenYishay, Ariel & Heuser, Silke & Runfola, Daniel & Trichler, Rachel, 2017. "Indigenous land rights and deforestation: Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 29-47.
    7. Guanziroli, Carlos E. & Basco, Carlos A., 2010. "Construction of Agrarian Policies in Brazil: The Case of the National Program to Strengthen Family Farming (PRONAF)," Comuniica Magazine, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, vol. 2010(01-07 Jan), pages 1-22, July.
    8. Besley, Timothy, 1995. "Property Rights and Investment Incentives: Theory and Evidence from Ghana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(5), pages 903-937, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Porro, Roberto & Porro, Noemi Sakiara Miyasaka, 2022. "State-led social and environmental policy failure in a Brazilian forest frontier: Sustainable Development Project in Anapu, Pará," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    2. Meyer, Maximilian & Klingelhoeffer, Ekkehard & Naidoo, Robin & Wingate, Vladimir & Börner, Jan, 2021. "Tourism opportunities drive woodland and wildlife conservation outcomes of community-based conservation in Namibia's Zambezi region," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    3. Shinde, Nilesh N. & Do Valle, Stella Z. Schons & Maia, Alexandre Gori & Amacher, Gregory S., 2022. "Can an environmental policy contribute to the reduction of land conflict? Evidence from the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) in the Brazilian Amazon," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322584, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. David López-Carr, 2021. "A Review of Small Farmer Land Use and Deforestation in Tropical Forest Frontiers: Implications for Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-23, October.
    5. P. P. Braga, Daniel & Pokorny, Benno & Porro, Roberto & Vidal, Edson, 2023. "Good life in the Amazon? A critical reflection on the standard of living of cocoa and cattle-based smallholders in Pará, Brazil," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    6. Isabelle Chort & Berk Öktem, 2023. "Agricultural shocks, coping policies and deforestation: evidence from the coffee leaf rust epidemic in mexico," Working Papers hal-03715600, HAL.
    7. Haiyang Shang & Ying Kou & Fang Su & Nini Song & Shuxin Mao, 2021. "The Policy Effect, Spatial Heterogeneity, and Spillover Effect of Land System Pilots," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    8. Delaroche, Martin & Le Tourneau, François-Michel & Daugeard, Marion, 2022. "How vegetation classification and mapping may influence conservation: The example of Brazil’s Native Vegetation Protection Law," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    9. Gochberg, William, 2021. "The social costs of titling land: Evidence from Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    10. Magalhães de Oliveira, Gustavo & Sellare, Jorge & Cisneros, Elias, Börner, Jan & Börner, Jan, 2024. "Mind your language: Political signaling and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Discussion Papers 333334, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    11. Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Nguyen, Binh Quang, 2023. "Environmental foe or friend: The influence of the shadow economy on forest land," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    12. Daniella Tiemi Sasaki Okida & Osmar Abílio de Carvalho Júnior & Osmar Luiz Ferreira de Carvalho & Roberto Arnaldo Trancoso Gomes & Renato Fontes Guimarães, 2021. "Relationship between Land Property Security and Brazilian Amazon Deforestation in the Mato Grosso State during the Period 2013–2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.
    13. Elizângela Silva Luz & Álvaro Augusto Vieira Soares & Selma Lopes Goulart & Amélia Guimarães Carvalho & Thiago Campos Monteiro & Thiago Paula Protásio, 2021. "Challenges of the lumber production in the Amazon region: relation between sustainability of sawmills, process yield and logs quality," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 4924-4948, April.
    14. Pereira, Alexia Saleme Aona de Paula & dos Santos, Vitor Juste & Alves, Sabrina do Carmo & Amaral e Silva, Arthur & da Silva, Charles Gomes & Calijuri, Maria Lúcia, 2022. "Contribution of rural settlements to the deforestation dynamics in the Legal Amazon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    15. Bastiaan Reydon & Gabriel Pansani Siqueira & Delaide Silva Passos & Stephan Honer, 2022. "Unclear Land Rights and Deforestation: Pieces of Evidence from Brazilian Reality," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mueller, Bernardo, 2022. "Property rights and violence in indigenous land in Brazil," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    2. West, Thales A.P. & Fearnside, Philip M., 2021. "Brazil’s conservation reform and the reduction of deforestation in Amazonia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    3. Shinde, Nilesh N. & Do Valle, Stella Z. Schons & Maia, Alexandre Gori & Amacher, Gregory S., 2022. "Can an environmental policy contribute to the reduction of land conflict? Evidence from the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) in the Brazilian Amazon," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322584, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Albuquerque Sant'Anna, André & Costa, Lucas, 2021. "Environmental regulation and bail outs under weak state capacity: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon11The authors gratefully acknowledge Antonio Ambrózio, Juliano Assunção, Arthur Bragança, Filipe ," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    5. World Bank, 2001. "Mexico : Land Policy--A Decade after the Ejido Reform," World Bank Publications - Reports 15460, The World Bank Group.
    6. Mastrangelo, Joao Paulo S. & Gori Maia, Alexandre, 2021. "Impacts of land tenure security on deforestation: evidence for the Amazon rainforest," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313918, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Daniella Tiemi Sasaki Okida & Osmar Abílio de Carvalho Júnior & Osmar Luiz Ferreira de Carvalho & Roberto Arnaldo Trancoso Gomes & Renato Fontes Guimarães, 2021. "Relationship between Land Property Security and Brazilian Amazon Deforestation in the Mato Grosso State during the Period 2013–2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.
    8. Mastrangelo, João Paulo & Gori Maia, Alexandre, 2023. "Does land tenure security reduce deforestation? Evidence for the Brazilian Amazon," 97th Annual Conference, March 27-29, 2023, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 334335, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    9. Lingling Hou & Pengfei Liu & Xiaohui Tian, 2023. "Grassland tenure reform and grassland quality in China," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(5), pages 1388-1404, October.
    10. Faria, Weslem & de Almeida, Alexandre, 2013. "Relationship between Openness to Trade and Deforestation: Empirical Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon," TD NEREUS 3-2013, Núcleo de Economia Regional e Urbana da Universidade de São Paulo (NEREUS).
    11. Lee J. Alston & Edwyna Harris & Bernardo Mueller, 2009. "De Facto and De Jure Property Rights: Land Settlement and Land Conflict on the Australian, Brazilian and U.S. Frontiers," NBER Working Papers 15264, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Deacon, Robert & Mueller, Bernardo, 2004. "Political Economy and Natural Resource Use," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series qt68g1n1v8, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara.
    13. Sonia SCHWARTZ & Jean Galbert ONGONO OLINGA & Eric Nazindigouba KERE & Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Jean-Louis COMBES & Johanna CHOUMERT & Ariane Manuela AMIN, 2014. "A spatial econometric approach to spillover effects between protected areas and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Working Papers 201406, CERDI.
    14. Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Jean-Louis COMBES & Catherine ARAUJO BONJEAN & Claudio ARAUJO & Eustaquio J. REIS, 2010. "Does Land Tenure Insecurity Drive Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?," Working Papers 201013, CERDI.
    15. Lee J. Alston & Bernardo Mueller, 2010. "Property Rights, Land Conflict and Tenancy in Brazil," NBER Working Papers 15771, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Walker, Kendra L., 2021. "Effect of land tenure on forest cover and the paradox of private titling in Panama," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    17. Laing, Timothy, 2015. "Rights to the forest, REDD+ and elections: Mining in Guyana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(P2), pages 250-261.
    18. Sills, Erin & Pfaff, Alexander & Andrade, Luiza & Kirkpatrick, Justin & Dickson, Rebecca, 2020. "Investing in local capacity to respond to a federal environmental mandate: Forest & economic impacts of the Green Municipality Program in the Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    19. Weslem Faria & Alexandre Almeida, 2011. "Agricultural Expansion, Openness to Trade and Deforestation at the Brazilian Amazon: A Spatial Econometric Analysis," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1013, European Regional Science Association.
    20. Hotte, Louis, 2001. "Conflicts over property rights and natural-resource exploitation at the frontier," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 1-21, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:129:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x19305030. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.