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War and deforestation in Sierra Leone

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  • Burgess, Robin
  • Miguel, Edward
  • Stanton, Charlotte

Abstract

The impact of armed conflict on the environment is of major public policy importance. We use a geographically disaggregated dataset of civil war violence together with satellite imagery of land cover to test whether war facilitated or prevented forest loss in Sierra Leone. The conflict data set allows us to establish where rebel groups were stationed and where battles and attacks occurred. The satellite data enables to us to monitor the change in forest cover (total, primary, and secondary) in all of Sierra Leone's 151 chiefdoms, between 1990 (prior to the war) and 2000 (just prior to its end). The results suggest that conflict in Sierra Leone acted as a brake on local deforestation: conflict-ridden areas experienced significantly less forest loss relative to their more conflict-free counterparts.

Suggested Citation

  • Burgess, Robin & Miguel, Edward & Stanton, Charlotte, 2015. "War and deforestation in Sierra Leone," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt83h9d9gb, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:econwp:qt83h9d9gb
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Salehyan, Idean & Gleditsch, Kristian Skrede, 2006. "Refugees and the Spread of Civil War," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(2), pages 335-366, April.
    2. Christopher Blattman & Edward Miguel, 2010. "Civil War," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 3-57, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Richard A. Wadsworth & Aiah R. Lebbie, 2019. "What Happened to the Forests of Sierra Leone?," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Canavire-Bacarreza, Gustavo & Diaz-Gutierrez, Julian Eduardo & Hanauer, Merlin M., 2018. "Unintended consequences of conservation: Estimating the impact of protected areas on violence in Colombia," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 46-70.
    3. Castro-Nunez, Augusto & Mertz, Ole & Quintero, Marcela, 2016. "Propensity of farmers to conserve forest within REDD+ projects in areas affected by armed-conflict," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 22-30.
    4. Shapiro, Aurélie C. & Bernhard, Katie P. & Zenobi, Stefano & Müller, Daniel & Aguilar-Amuchastegui, Naikoa & d'Annunzio, Rémi, 2021. "Proximate causes of forest degradation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo vary in space and time," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 2.
    5. Olukorede Abiona & Joseph B. Ajefu, 2023. "The impact of timing of in utero drought shocks on birth outcomes in rural households: evidence from Sierra Leone," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1333-1362, July.
    6. Prem, Mounu & Saavedra, Santiago & Vargas, Juan F., 2020. "End-of-conflict deforestation: Evidence from Colombia’s peace agreement," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    7. Mariana Unda & Andrés Etter, 2019. "Conservation Opportunities of the Land Restitution Program Areas in the Colombian Post-Conflict Period," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-19, April.
    8. Panel, Sophie & Pietri, Antoine, 2022. "God did not save the kings: Environmental consequences of the 1982 Falklands War," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    9. Barry REILLY & Rafael Isidro PARRA-PEÑA S., 2019. "Forests and Conflict in Colombia," Archivos de Economía 17507, Departamento Nacional de Planeación.
    10. Hufschmidt, Patrick & Ume, Chukwuma Otum, 2023. "Conflicts and political intervention: Evidence from the anti-open grazing laws in Nigeria," Ruhr Economic Papers 1009, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    11. Andres Suarez & Paola Andrea Árias-Arévalo & Eliana Martínez-Mera, 2018. "Environmental sustainability in post-conflict countries: insights for rural Colombia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 997-1015, June.
    12. Mihaylova, Iva, 2023. "Perpetuating the malign legacy of colonialism? Traditional chiefs’ power and deforestation in Sierra Leone," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).

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