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Agriculture and Deforestation: Is REDD+ Rooted In Evidence?

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  • Pirard, Romain
  • Belna, Karine

Abstract

This article deals with the links between agricultural technologies and tropical deforestation in order to determine whether and how the REDD+ mechanism (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) might address agriculture expansion on forests. We study in the first place the Borlaug/land sparing hypothesis, according to which an increase in agricultural productivity per hectare leads to reduced cultivated areas, or at least is a prerequisite for such an outcome, but we find serious limitations when translated in economic terms. Further confrontation with empirical results from case-studies confirms the lack of robustness of the land sparing hypothesis: various kinds of changes in agricultural technologies in various contexts generate various types of impacts on forest cover. Increasing productivity per hectare can be done in many ways and has uncertain consequences on forest cover. Public support policies need to be funded in priority to guarantee that agricultural land reforms work in favour of reducing deforestation. Subsequently, we study the strategies that were elaborated by five countries in the framework of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, which is a prominent supporter of REDD+-readiness. Their analysis shows the poor reflection in these national strategies of the academic debate/research results on the impact of agricultural technologies on deforestation. This gap between science and policy making deserves recognition for improvement, if one wishes most effective use of this new and unprecedented source of finance for reversing the tropical deforestation. But the extremely complex relations between agricultural technologies and deforestation also plead for the promotion and financing of public support policies as one promising way to secure positive outcomes of agricultural technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Pirard, Romain & Belna, Karine, 2012. "Agriculture and Deforestation: Is REDD+ Rooted In Evidence?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 62-70.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:21:y:2012:i:c:p:62-70
    DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2012.01.012
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    1. -, 2001. "New technologies in agriculture," Sede Subregional de la CEPAL para el Caribe (Estudios e Investigaciones) 27483, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    2. Araujo, Claudio & Bonjean, Catherine Araujo & Combes, Jean-Louis & Combes Motel, Pascale & Reis, Eustaquio J., 2009. "Property rights and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2461-2468, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bastos Lima, Mairon G. & Visseren-Hamakers, Ingrid J. & Braña-Varela, Josefina & Gupta, Aarti, 2017. "A reality check on the landscape approach to REDD+: Lessons from Latin America," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 10-20.
    2. Skutsch, Margaret & Turnhout, Esther, 2020. "REDD+: If communities are the solution, what is the problem?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    3. Leventon, Julia & Kalaba, Felix K. & Dyer, Jen C. & Stringer, Lindsay C. & Dougill, Andrew J., 2014. "Delivering community benefits through REDD+: Lessons from Joint Forest Management in Zambia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 10-17.
    4. Weatherley-Singh, Janice & Gupta, Aarti, 2017. "An ecological landscape approach to REDD+ in Madagascar: Promise and limitations?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(P1), pages 1-9.
    5. Philip Antwi-Agyei & Andrew J. Dougill & Lindsay C. Stringer, 2017. "Assessing Coherence between Sector Policies and Climate Compatible Development: Opportunities for Triple Wins," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-16, November.
    6. Kemigisha, Esther & Babweteera, Fred & Mugisha, Johnny & Angelsen, Arild, 2023. "Payment for environmental services to reduce deforestation: Do the positive effects last?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    7. Loconto, Allison & Desquilbet, Marion & Moreau, Théo & Couvet, Denis & Dorin, Bruno, 2020. "The land sparing – land sharing controversy: Tracing the politics of knowledge," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    8. Unai Pascual & Eneko Garmendia & Jacob Phelps & Elena Ojea, 2013. "Leveraging Global Climate Finance for Sustainable Forests: Opportunities and Conditions for Successful Foreign Aid to the Forestry Sector," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-054, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Mertz, Ole & Mertens, Charlotte Filt, 2017. "Land Sparing and Land Sharing Policies in Developing Countries – Drivers and Linkages to Scientific Debates," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 523-535.
    10. Garmendia, Eneko & Ojea, Elena & Pascual, Unai & Phelps, Jacob, 2013. "Leveraging Global Climate Finance for Sustainable Forests : Opportunities and Conditions for Successful Foreign Aid to the Forestry Sector," WIDER Working Paper Series 054, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Yvonne Hargita & Lukas Giessen & Sven Günter, 2020. "Similarities and Differences between International REDD+ and Transnational Deforestation-Free Supply Chain Initiatives—A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-33, January.
    12. Eleni Zafeiriou & Grigorios L. Kyriakopoulos & Veronika Andrea & Garyfallos Arabatzis, 2023. "Environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation in Eastern Europe: a panel cointegration analysis," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 9267-9287, September.
    13. Mbatu, Richard S, 2016. "REDD+ research: Reviewing the literature, limitations and ways forward," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 140-152.
    14. Giuseppe Molinario & Matthew Hansen & Peter Potapov & Alexandra Tyukavina & Stephen Stehman, 2020. "Contextualizing Landscape-Scale Forest Cover Loss in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between 2000 and 2015," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-22, January.

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