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Naming and Shaming for Conservation: Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon

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  • Elías Cisneros
  • Sophie Lian Zhou
  • Jan Börner

Abstract

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has dropped substantially after a peak of over 27 thousand square kilometers in 2004. Starting in 2008, the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment has regularly published blacklists of critical districts with high annual forest loss. Farms in blacklisted districts face additional administrative hurdles to obtain authorization for clearing forests. In this paper we add to the existing literature on evaluating the Brazilian anti-deforestation policies by specifically quantifying the impact of blacklisting on deforestation. We first use spatial matching techniques using a set of covariates that includes official blacklisting criteria to identify control districts. We then explore the effect of blacklisting on change in deforestation in double difference regressions with panel data covering the period from 2002 to 2012. Multiple robustness checks are conducted including an analysis of potential causal mechanisms behind the success of the blacklist. We find that the blacklist has considerably reduced deforestation in the affected districts even after controlling for the potential mechanism effects of field-based enforcement, environmental registration campaigns, and rural credit.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0136402
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136402
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    2. Eugenio Arima & Paulo Barreto & Farzad Taheripour & Angel Aguiar, 2021. "Dynamic Amazonia: The EU–Mercosur Trade Agreement and Deforestation," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-23, November.
    3. 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).
    4. 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).
    5. Maria Alice Moz-Christofoletti & Paula Carvalho Pereda & Wesley Campanharo, 2022. "Does Decentralized and Voluntary Commitment Reduce Deforestation? The Effects of Programa Municípios Verdes," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 82(1), pages 65-100, May.
    6. Cisneros, Elías & Kis-Katos, Krisztina & Nuryartono, Nunung, 2021. "Palm oil and the politics of deforestation in Indonesia," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    7. 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).
    8. Miranda, Javier & Börner, Jan, 2021. "Farm-Level Impacts of Shifts in Conservation Policy Regimes in Brazil’s Arc of Deforestation," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315225, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Brandão, Frederico & Befani, Barbara & Soares-Filho, Jaílson & Rajão, Raoni & Garcia, Edenise, 2023. "How to halt deforestation in the Amazon? A Bayesian process-tracing approach," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    10. Filewod, Ben & McCarney, Geoff, 2023. "Avoiding leakage from nature-based offsets by design," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117927, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. dos Santos Massoca, Paulo Eduardo & Brondízio, Eduardo Sonnewend, 2022. "National policies encounter municipal realities: A critical analysis of the outcomes of the List of Priority Municipalities in curbing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    12. 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).
    13. Léa Crepin, 2022. "Do forest conservation policies undermine the soybean sector in the Brazilian Amazon? Evidence from the blacklisting of municipalities," Working Papers 2022.07, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    14. Jan Börner & Kathy Baylis & Esteve Corbera & Driss Ezzine-de-Blas & Paul J Ferraro & Jordi Honey-Rosés & Renaud Lapeyre & U Martin Persson & Sven Wunder, 2016. "Emerging Evidence on the Effectiveness of Tropical Forest Conservation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-11, November.
    15. Chandio, Rabail, 2022. "Conservation and Conflicts in the Amazon," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322465, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. 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).
    17. Correa, Juliano & Cisneros, Elías & Börner, Jan & Pfaff, Alexander & Costa, Marcelo & Rajão, Raoni, 2020. "Evaluating REDD+ at subnational level: Amazon fund impacts in Alta Floresta, Brazil," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    18. Filewod, Ben & McCarney, Geoff, 2023. "Avoiding leakage from nature-based offsets by design," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117928, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Moffette, Fanny & Skidmore, Marin & Gibbs, Holly K., 2021. "Environmental policies that shape productivity: Evidence from cattle ranching in the Amazon," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).

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