Abstract

What is the impact of improving rural land rights on forest loss? Existing evidence is unclear and often has difficulty cleanly identify causal impacts of land tenure policies. This paper presents results from the first large-scale policy experiment on rural land rights.  We find that villages that were randomly selected to participate in the land formalization program experience a substantial reduction in forest loss in subsequent years.  We find no evidence of anticipatory deforestation or negative spillovers to other areas.  Overall, our results suggest that formalizing rural land rights can be an effective way to reduce forest loss.

Co-authors : Luis Becerra-Valbuena (Paris School of Economics) and Liam Wren-Lewis (Paris School of Economics, INRA)

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