Explaining forest degradation in Malawi: Asset poverty, income shocks, and activity choice

Monica Grace Fisher, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation asks what policies might be useful to reduce incentives to degrade forests in Malawi, where forest cover is being lost at a rate of 2.4 percent per annum. Conservation efforts have often been limited by an inadequate understanding of the varied ways in which forest users incorporate forest activities into their activity portfolios. The core of the dissertation is a set of essays that use household survey data from rural Malawi to examine the factors associated with smallholder-led forest degradation and to assess the many contributions of forest resources to rural livelihoods. Essay I uses a systems approach to examine the determinants of activity choice impacting forest use among low-income households in Malawi. Results from constrained ML estimation indicate greater incentives to degrade forests where the returns to forest use are high. Factors that reduce forest pressure include: availability of low-cost fuel substitutes, on-farm tree planting, favorable returns to wage-work, and opportunities in the self-employment sector. Essay II investigates whether forests provide a safety net for rural households in Malawi. Results from a dynamic Tobit model of forest extraction appear to suggest that access to forests as a source of income assists households, particularly very poor households, in coping with income shortfalls. Random-effects models of income and savings indicate that households save out of transitory income. The findings of the essay suggest that policies that help to alleviate asset poverty can reduce household dependence on forests for coping with income shocks and subsequently reduce forest pressure. Essay III examines economic reliance on forests and its effects on rural household welfare. The data show that sample households depended on forests for about 30 percent of household income. Tobit model estimation indicates a positive relationship between asset poverty and forest reliance. Analyses of the impacts of forest use on poverty and income inequality indicate a potentially important role for forests in improving living standards in rural Malawi at the household and community levels. Based on findings of the three essays, interventions are proposed that aim to slow forest decline in Malawi without harming the current well-being of the rural poor.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Shively, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Agricultural economics|Forestry|Environmental science

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