Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Forests to the People: Decentralization and Forest Degradation in the Indian Himalayas

Contents:

Author Info

  • Jean-Marie Baland

    () (University of Namur)

  • Pranab Bardhan

    () (University of California, Berkeley)

  • Sanghamitra Das

    () (Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi)

  • Dilip Mookherjee

    () (Institute for Economic Development, Boston University)

Abstract

Most analyses of the impact of community management of common property resources are based on cross-sectional comparisons in case studies or small samples, perception-based measurement of resource conditions, and absence of controls for unobserved community characteristics and non-random assignment of management types. This paper compares forests managed by local community groups called Van Panchayats (VPs), with protected and unprotected state forests in the Indian state of Uttaranchal. We utilize ground-level ecological measures of forest quality including canopy cover, biomass, lopping and regeneration in 399 forests accessed by residents of a random sample of 83 villages in the mid-Himalayan region of Uttaranchal. Raw differences between VP and non-VP forest quality indicate no significant differences. We find evidence consistent with the hypothesis that these understate the benefits of VP management owing to endogenous selection, since more degraded forests are more likely to be converted to VP forests. Controlling for forest geography, unobserved village characteristics and cross-forest spillovers, VP forests are significantly less lopped, and similar on other dimensions. The lopping differences are greater the longer the forest has been under a VP.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.bu.edu/econ/ied/dp/papers/vpindia22.doc
Our checks indicate that this address may not be valid because: 404 Not Found. If this is indeed the case, please notify (Courtney Sullivan)
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Boston University - Department of Economics in its series Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series with number dp-169.

as in new window
Length: 33 pages
Date of creation: Mar 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:bos:iedwpr:dp-169

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 270 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215
Phone: 617-353-4389
Fax: 617-353-444
Web page: http://www.bu.edu/econ/
More information through EDIRC

Related research

Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Edmonds, Eric V., 2002. "Government-initiated community resource management and local resource extraction from Nepal's forests," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 89-115, June.
  2. Jean-Marie Baland & Pranab Bardhan & Sanghamitra Das & Dilip Mookherjee & Rinki Sarkar, 2010. "The Environmental Impact of Poverty: Evidence from Firewood Collection in Rural Nepal," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(1), pages 23-61, October.
  3. Varughese, George & Ostrom, Elinor, 2001. "The Contested Role of Heterogeneity in Collective Action: Some Evidence from Community Forestry in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 747-765, May.
  4. Mansuri, Ghazala & Rao, Vijayendra, 2004. "Community-based (and driven) development : A critical review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3209, The World Bank.
  5. Beck, Tony & Nesmith, Cathy, 2001. "Building on Poor People's Capacities: The Case of Common Property Resources in India and West Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 119-133, January.
  6. Ballabh, Vishwa & Balooni, Kulbhushan & Dave, Shibani, 2002. "Why Local Resources Management Institutions Decline: A Comparative Analysis of Van (Forest) Panchayats and Forest Protection Committees in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 2153-2167, December.
  7. Jean-Marie Baland & Pranab Bardhan & Sanghamitra Das & Dilip Mookherjee & Rinki Sarkar, 2006. "MANAGING THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH Forest Degradation in the Indian Mid-Himalayas," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-161, Boston University - Department of Economics.
  8. Agrawal, Arun & Chhatre, Ashwini, 2006. "Explaining success on the commons: Community forest governance in the Indian Himalaya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 149-166, January.
  9. Dasgupta, Partha, 1996. "The economics of the environment," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(04), pages 387-428, October.
  10. Wade, Robert, 1987. "The Management of Common Property Resources: Finding a Cooperative Solution," World Bank Research Observer, World Bank Group, vol. 2(2), pages 219-34, July.
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 in new window

Cited by:
  1. Robin Burgess & Matthew Hansen & Benjamin A. Olken & Peter Potapov & Stefanie Sieber, 2011. "The Political Economy of Deforestation in the Tropics," NBER Working Papers 17417, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Jean-Marie Baland & Pranab Bardhan & Sangharmitra Das & Dilip Mookherjee, 2009. "Forest Degradation in the Himalayas: Determinants and Policy Options," Working Papers 1002, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
  3. James Copestake, 2010. "Microfinance and development finance in India: research implications," Working Papers CEB 10-028, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bos:iedwpr:dp-169

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Courtney Sullivan).

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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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