IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/115672.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Landscape-scale effects of farmers’ restoration decision making and investments in central Malawi: an agent-based modeling approach

Author

Listed:
  • Djenontin, Ida N.S.
  • Ligmann-Zielinska, Arika
  • Zulu, Leo C.

Abstract

Local farmers’ engagement and contributions are increasingly underscored in resources restoration policy. Yet, empirical context-situated understanding of the environmental impacts of farmer-led restoration remains scant. Using six Agent-based Modeling (ABM) simulations that integrate multi-type data, we explore the potential spatial-temporal aggregate patterns and outcomes of local restoration actions in Central Malawi. Findings uncover a 10-year positive trend and spatially explicit potential restoration extent and intensity, greenness, and land productivity, all varying by farmer’s participation level. Landscape regreening is modestly promising with fluctuating greenness levels and low, slightly incremental, then steady land-productivity levels. Findings also show appropriate incentives, restoration knowledge, and inspiring local leadership as propitious management options for boosting local restoration. Bundling these enabling management and policy options would maximize local restoration. Findings suggest empowering bottom-up restoration efforts for enhanced environmental impacts. We also demonstrate the potential of using ABM to offer insights for spatially targeted, evidence-based restoration policy implementation and monitoring.

Suggested Citation

  • Djenontin, Ida N.S. & Ligmann-Zielinska, Arika & Zulu, Leo C., 2022. "Landscape-scale effects of farmers’ restoration decision making and investments in central Malawi: an agent-based modeling approach," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115672, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:115672
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/115672/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ntihinyurwa, Pierre Damien & de Vries, Walter Timo, 2021. "Farmland fragmentation concourse: Analysis of scenarios and research gaps," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    2. Ida Nadia S. Djenontin & Leo C. Zulu & Arika Ligmann-Zielinska, 2020. "Improving Representation of Decision Rules in LUCC-ABM: An Example with an Elicitation of Farmers’ Decision Making for Landscape Restoration in Central Malawi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-35, July.
    3. Jenny C. Aker & Kelsey Jack, 2021. "Harvesting the Rain: The Adoption of Environmental Technologies in the Sahel," NBER Working Papers 29518, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Leo Zulu, 2013. "Bringing People Back into Protected Forests in Developing Countries: Insights from Co-Management in Malawi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-27, May.
    5. Martin Brandt & Compton J. Tucker & Ankit Kariryaa & Kjeld Rasmussen & Christin Abel & Jennifer Small & Jerome Chave & Laura Vang Rasmussen & Pierre Hiernaux & Abdoul Aziz Diouf & Laurent Kergoat & Ol, 2020. "An unexpectedly large count of trees in the West African Sahara and Sahel," Nature, Nature, vol. 587(7832), pages 78-82, November.
    6. Djenontin, Ida N.S. & Zulu, Leo C., 2021. "The quest for context-relevant governance of agro-forest landscape restoration in Central Malawi: Insights from local processes," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Djenontin, Ida Nadia S. & Zulu, Leo C. & Richardson, Robert B., 2022. "Smallholder farmers and forest landscape restoration in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Central Malawi," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    2. Djenontin, Ida N.S. & Zulu, Leo C., 2021. "The quest for context-relevant governance of agro-forest landscape restoration in Central Malawi: Insights from local processes," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    3. Yan Cheng & Stefan Oehmcke & Martin Brandt & Lisa Rosenthal & Adrian Das & Anton Vrieling & Sassan Saatchi & Fabien Wagner & Maurice Mugabowindekwe & Wim Verbruggen & Claus Beier & Stéphanie Horion, 2024. "Scattered tree death contributes to substantial forest loss in California," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Ndip, Francis Ebai & Molua, Ernest L. & Mvodo, Meyo-Elise Stephanie & Nkendah, Robert & Djomo Choumbou, Raoul Fani & Tabetando, Rayner & Akem, Nina Fabinin, 2023. "Farmland Fragmentation, crop diversification and incomes in Cameroon, a Congo Basin country," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    5. Georgina Milne & Andrew William Byrne & Emma Campbell & Jordon Graham & John McGrath & Raymond Kirke & Wilma McMaster & Jesko Zimmermann & Adewale Henry Adenuga, 2022. "Quantifying Land Fragmentation in Northern Irish Cattle Enterprises," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, March.
    6. B. Kelsey Jack & Seema Jayachandran & Namrata Kala & Rohini Pande, 2022. "Money (Not) to Burn: Payments for Ecosystem Services to Reduce Crop Residue Burning," NBER Working Papers 30690, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Florian Reiner & Martin Brandt & Xiaoye Tong & David Skole & Ankit Kariryaa & Philippe Ciais & Andrew Davies & Pierre Hiernaux & Jérôme Chave & Maurice Mugabowindekwe & Christian Igel & Stefan Oehmcke, 2023. "More than one quarter of Africa’s tree cover is found outside areas previously classified as forest," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Beattie, Graham & Ding, Iza & La Nauze, Andrea, 2022. "Is there an energy efficiency gap in China? Evidence from an information experiment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    9. Egger, Claudine & Plutzar, Christoph & Mayer, Andreas & Dullinger, Iwona & Dullinger, Stefan & Essl, Franz & Gattringer, Andreas & Bohner, Andreas & Haberl, Helmut & Gaube, Veronika, 2022. "Using the SECLAND model to project future land-use until 2050 under climate and socioeconomic change in the LTSER region Eisenwurzen (Austria)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    10. Daniel Kpienbaareh & Evans Sumabe Batung & Isaac Luginaah, 2022. "Spatial and Temporal Change of Land Cover in Protected Areas in Malawi: Implications for Conservation Management," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-19, February.
    11. Yu, Peiheng & Fennell, Shailaja & Chen, Yiyun & Liu, Hui & Xu, Lu & Pan, Jiawei & Bai, Shaoyun & Gu, Shixiang, 2022. "Positive impacts of farmland fragmentation on agricultural production efficiency in Qilu Lake watershed: Implications for appropriate scale management," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    12. Prince Donkor Ameyaw & Walter Timo de Vries, 2021. "Toward Smart Land Management: Land Acquisition and the Associated Challenges in Ghana. A Look into a Blockchain Digital Land Registry for Prospects," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-22, March.
    13. Manan Bhan & Simone Gingrich & Sarah Matej & Steffen Fritz & Karl-Heinz Erb, 2021. "Land Use Increases the Correlation between Tree Cover and Biomass Carbon Stocks in the Global Tropics," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-15, November.
    14. Nicholas A. O’Mara & Charlotte Skonieczny & David McGee & Gisela Winckler & Aloys J.-M. Bory & Louisa I. Bradtmiller & Bruno Malaizé & Pratigya J. Polissar, 2022. "Pleistocene drivers of Northwest African hydroclimate and vegetation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    15. Ida Nadia S. Djenontin & Leo C. Zulu & Arika Ligmann-Zielinska, 2020. "Improving Representation of Decision Rules in LUCC-ABM: An Example with an Elicitation of Farmers’ Decision Making for Landscape Restoration in Central Malawi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-35, July.
    16. Lucas R. Vargas Zeppetello & Susan C. Cook-Patton & Luke A. Parsons & Nicholas H. Wolff & Timm Kroeger & David S. Battisti & Joseph Bettles & June T. Spector & Arjun Balakumar & Yuta J. Masuda, 2022. "Consistent cooling benefits of silvopasture in the tropics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    17. Kimengsi, Jude Ndzifon & Owusu, Raphael & Djenontin, Ida N.S. & Pretzsch, Jürgen & Giessen, Lukas & Buchenrieder, Gertrud & Pouliot, Mariève & Acosta, Ana Nicole, 2022. "What do we (not) know on forest management institutions in sub-Saharan Africa? A regional comparative review," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    18. Lu Niu & Mengyao Xu & Walter Timo de Vries, 2023. "Investigation and Comparison of Spatial–Temporal Characteristics of Farmland Fragmentation in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region, China, and Bavaria, Germany," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, July.
    19. Mahadevan, Meera & Meeks, Robyn & Yamano, Takashi, 2023. "Reducing information barriers to solar adoption: Experimental evidence from India," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    20. Lin Zhou & Walter Timo de Vries & Alexandra Panman & Fei Gao & Chenyu Fang, 2023. "Evaluating Collective Action for Effective Land Policy Reform in Developing Country Contexts: The Construction and Validation of Dimensions and Indicators," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-21, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR); greenness; participation; productivity; Space-time patterns;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ehl:lserod:115672. 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    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.