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Property rights help forests regenerate

Posted: 08/05/2007

Loss of tropical forests and the environmental consequences are of growing concern worldwide, including to those greener builders who wish to use only sustainably sourced timber. It is often thought that regeneration is slow or non existent, but a study published by the scientific journal PLoS ONE recently showed that forests are spontaneously regenerating in Madagascar, even in densely populated areas.

The study highlights the importance of understanding social issues in forest management, as although knowledge exists about the environmental context in which tropical forest loss occurs, little is known about the role of social institutions in influencing loss, or more especially, regeneration of tropical forests.

The researchers used Landsat images from southern Madagascar from three different years (1984, 1993 and 2000) and covering 5500 km2, and made a time-series analysis of three distinct large-scale patterns: 1) loss of forest cover, 2) increased forest cover, and 3) stable forest cover.

The results showed a decrease of 7% total forest cover in the study area during the whole period 1984–2000, but an overall net increase of 4% during the period 1993–2000. Surprisingly, rather than loss of tree cover being greatest where there were most people, the highest loss of forest cover occurred in a low human population density area with long distances to markets.

Tree cover remained stable in the area with highest population density and good market access. From interviews with forest officials and local residents, the researchers discovered that forest loss often occurred in areas with insecure property rights.

Areas with well-defined property rights, forestry management regulations and local norms for practices such as livestock grazing showed either regenerating ― where there was a low population density ― or stable forest cover.

So the study showed that loss of forest cover occurred mainly in areas characterized by insecure property rights, while areas with well-defined property rights showed either regenerating or stable forest cover.

The large-scale spontaneous regeneration dominated by native endemic species seen on the aerial photographs seemed to be a result of a combination of changes in precipitation, migration and decreased human population and livestock grazing pressure, but under conditions of maintained and well-defined property rights.

Stable property rights for villagers and guaranteed stakes in forest management could help the regeneration of dry tropical forests on the island, the research concluded, and the authors say their results fill a gap in the knowledge of how to repair forests that are under intense pressure from human development.

To read the full text of the article go to http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000402
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