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Does better common property forest management promote behavioral change? On-farm tree planting in the Bolivian Andes1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2008

RANDALL BLUFFSTONE ,
MARCO BOSCOLO  and
RAMIRO MOLINA
RANDALL BLUFFSTONE
Affiliation:
Portland State University, Department of Economics, Portland State University, PO Box 751 Portland, OR 97207-0751 Email: [email protected]
MARCO BOSCOLO
Affiliation:
Harvard University. Email: [email protected]
RAMIRO MOLINA
Affiliation:
Fundacion Dialogo. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This paper analyzes behavioral change spurred by better common property forest management (CPFM), with a focus on on-farm tree planting. Results from our theoretical household model suggest that on-farm trees, which provide products that can substitute for those from common forests, should be stimulated by better CPFM systems. We test this finding using data from a household survey conducted in the Bolivian Andes in 2000. We find that better CPFM at its highest level of aggregation is positively correlated with more and higher quality on-farm trees. In terms of less aggregated indices, relatively few variables are significant, though two particularly important aspects of forest property rights – access clarity and the existence of formal penalties for overuse – actually reduce on-farm tree planting. We therefore conclude that in general synergies between individual CPFM components are most critical for behavioral change, but improvement of property rights aspects of CPFM may give counter-intuitive results.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 137 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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