https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3775-7870
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ABSTRACT
Protected areas (PAs) can mitigate climate change by reducing carbon emissions that result from forest loss. Carbon emissions from forest degradation are a large component of forest loss and are often driven by the extraction decisions of resource-dependent households. PA policies must reflect how villagers use forests to be effective. Here, a spatial Nash equilibrium of extractors’ uncoordinated forest extraction pattern decisions establishes a baseline of forest-use patterns. Using that baseline, a manager chooses the location and enforcement level of PAs to maximize the avoided forest degradation in the landscape and in the PAs. Optimal PA locations depend on the labour market and the distance between forest patches. A combination of wage-improving projects and appropriately located PAs increases avoided forest degradation.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 Appendix A in the supplemental data online considers a case in which the enforcement cost function contains both the variable cost of enforcement within a patch and a distance cost of reaching the patch.
2 The wage and no-wage cases here are not directly comparable because they use different catchability coefficients in order to elucidate differences in decisions and patterns of extraction.
3 As in ongoing research, a fuller model could relate income to demand for forest resources; broaden the set of labour-using activities; and examine market access costs and constraints across labour, resource and credit markets to more explore the impact of market function on PA policy (Muller & Albers, Citation2004).