IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/iaae18/276956.html

The effects of protected areas on the welfare of local communities: the case of Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Mojo, D.
  • Oduor, A.M.O.
  • Fu, C.
  • Bai, Y.
  • Long, H.
  • Wang, G.
  • Zhang, L.

Abstract

Protected areas (PAs) are an important biodiversity conservation tool although they are often criticized for inadequate socio-economic benefits to local people. However, empirical studies on socio-economic impacts of PAs in developing countries remain scanty. The present study analyzed the effect of the Maasai Mara National Reserve (MMNR) in Kenya on the household welfare (indicated by levels of income, consumption, and assets) and poverty incidence of the local people using questionnaires survey data gathered from 423 randomly selected households from six administrative units (i.e. wards) around the PA. Results from ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and entropy balancing methods show no statistically significant effects of the PA in improving welfare and reducing poverty gap of PA-adjacent households (living 0-5km from the PA boundary), who instead incur significantly higher crop and livestock losses compared with the distant households (living within 5-25km from PA boundary). A large proportion of households are, nevertheless, positive about the existence of the PA partly due to immaterial services and partly due to potential benefits they expect to obtain out of it in the future. These results suggest that intervention measures are needed to reduce losses caused by MMNR and improve the benefits it provides to local communities. Acknowledgement : This research was funded by a National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grant to Linxiu Zhang (no 31361140360) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) President's International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) to A.M.O. Oduor (no 2016PE016) and Dagne Mojo (no 2017PC0067). We thank the following persons for help with the conduct of interviews in the local Maa language during the survey: Dominic Leina, Daniel Sabore, Joel Tolian, Daniel Mokita, Musa Mainoya, Joshua Ketuyio, Mathew Sayianka, Saitoti Lemashon and Alex Oloitipitip.

Suggested Citation

  • Mojo, D. & Oduor, A.M.O. & Fu, C. & Bai, Y. & Long, H. & Wang, G. & Zhang, L., 2018. "The effects of protected areas on the welfare of local communities: the case of Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276956, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae18:276956
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.276956
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/276956/files/296.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.276956?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pradyot Ranjan Jena & Bezawit Beyene Chichaibelu & Till Stellmacher & Ulrike Grote, 2012. "The impact of coffee certification on small-scale producers’ livelihoods: a case study from the Jimma Zone, Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 43(4), pages 429-440, July.
    2. Mduduzi Biyase & Talent Zwane, 2018. "An Empirical Analysis Of The Determinants Of Poverty And Household Welfare In South Africa," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 52(1), pages 115-130, January-M.
    3. Michael Carter & Christopher Barrett, 2006. "The economics of poverty traps and persistent poverty: An asset-based approach," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 178-199.
    4. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    5. Geda, A. & de Jong, N. & Mwabu, G. & Kimenyi, M.S., 2001. "Determinants of poverty in Kenya : a household level analysis," ISS Working Papers - General Series 19095, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    6. Ferraro, Paul J., 2002. "The local costs of establishing protected areas in low-income nations: Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 261-275, December.
    7. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    8. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    9. Aldi Hagenaars & Klaas de Vos, 1988. "The Definition and Measurement of Poverty," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 23(2), pages 211-221.
    10. Mackenzie, Catrina A., 2012. "Accruing benefit or loss from a protected area: Location matters," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 119-129.
    11. Sims, Katharine R.E., 2010. "Conservation and development: Evidence from Thai protected areas," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 94-114, September.
    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. Sébastien Desbureaux & Eric Nazindigouba Kere & Pascale Combes Motel, 2016. "Impact Evaluation in a Landscape: Protected Natural Forests, Anthropized Forested Lands and Deforestation Leakages in Madagascar's Rainforests," Working Papers halshs-01342182, HAL.
    2. Estifanos, Tafesse Kefyalew & Polyakov, Maksym & Pandit, Ram & Hailu, Atakelty & Burton, Michael, 2020. "The impact of protected areas on the rural households’ incomes in Ethiopia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Desbureaux Sébastien & Eric Kéré Nazindigouba & Combes Motel Pascale, 2016. "Working Paper 238 - Impact Evaluation in a Landscape: protected natural forests, anthropized forested lands and deforestation leakages in Madagascar’s rainforests," Working Paper Series 2341, African Development Bank.
    4. Abebayehu Girma Geffersa, 2023. "Agricultural productivity, land use intensification and rural household welfare: evidence from Ethiopia," Agrekon, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(3-4), pages 309-327, October.
    5. Parvathi, Priyanka & Waibel, Hermann, 2016. "Organic Agriculture and Fair Trade: A Happy Marriage? A Case Study of Certified Smallholder Black Pepper Farmers in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 206-220.
    6. Bola Awotide & Arega Alene & Tahirou Abdoulaye & Victor Manyong, 2015. "Impact of agricultural technology adoption on asset ownership: the case of improved cassava varieties in Nigeria," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 7(6), pages 1239-1258, December.
    7. Shaikh M. S. U. Eskander & Sam Fankhauser, 2022. "Income Diversification and Income Inequality: Household Responses to the 2013 Floods in Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, January.
    8. Tomáš Želinský & Martina Mysíková & Thesia I. Garner, 2022. "Trends in Subjective Income Poverty Rates in the European Union," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(5), pages 2493-2516, October.
    9. Baron, Opher & Callen, Jeffrey L. & Segal, Dan, 2023. "Does the bullwhip matter economically? A cross-sectional firm-level analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    10. Sagarika Dey & Ritumani Haloi, 2019. "Assets, Rural Livelihood Strategies and Welfare Outcomes: A Case Study from South Assam, India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 62(4), pages 595-620, December.
    11. Renata Baborska & Emilio Hernandez & Emiliano Magrini & Cristian Morales-Opazo, 2020. "The impact of financial inclusion on rural food security experience: A perspective from low-and middle-income countries," Review of Development Finance Journal, Chartered Institute of Development Finance, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18.
    12. Eva-Maria Egger & Julie Litchfield, 2019. "Correction to: Following in their footsteps: an analysis of the impact of successive migration on rural household welfare in Ghana," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-1, December.
    13. Awa Sanou & Lenis S. O. Liverpool‐Tasie & John M. Kerr, 2020. "Threshold investment and firm viability: Evidence from commercial poultry farms in Nigeria," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(3), pages 422-439, June.
    14. Abdul Latif Alhassan & Noluyolo Magazi, 2021. "Microinsurance and household asset welfare in South Africa," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 46(3), pages 358-382, July.
    15. Sims, Katharine R.E., 2010. "Conservation and development: Evidence from Thai protected areas," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 94-114, September.
    16. Chiputwa, Brian & Spielman, David J. & Qaim, Matin, 2015. "Food Standards, Certification, and Poverty among Coffee Farmers in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 400-412.
    17. Parvathi, Priyanka & Waibel, Hermann, 2015. "Household Welfare Impacts of Black Papper Certification in Kerala, India," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212614, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Paul Demeré, 2023. "Is tax return information useful to equity investors?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 1413-1465, September.
    19. Vivek Astvansh & Yen‐Yao Wang & Wei Shi, 2022. "The effects of the news media on a firm's voluntary product recalls," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(11), pages 4223-4244, November.
    20. Wossen, Tesfamicheal & Abdoulaye, Tahirou & Alene, Arega & Feleke, Shiferaw & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Manyong, Victor & Awotide, Bola Amoke, 2017. "Productivity and Welfare Effects of Nigeria's e-Voucher-Based Input Subsidy Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 251-265.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    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:ags:iaae18:276956. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.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.