An international mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation using carbon payments (REDD+) can be leveraged to make payments for forests’ biodiversity as well. Paradoxically, under conditions consistent with emerging REDD+ programs, money spent on a mixture of carbon payments and...

Climate change is believed to be the root cause of the unprecedented mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak currently underway in the western United States. While climate change is undoubtedly a factor, changes in public forest management have resulted in more host trees in MPB habitat. We employ a...

Land markets developed rapidly in China after agricultural land tenure reforms, but not after forest reforms. We surveyed farmers in three provinces to examine the post-reform forestland markets and options to strengthen them. Using household choice experiments, we estimate land market demand...

We test the assumption that harvesting timber for energy production is assumed to have a carbon-neutral effect on climate. Our dynamic multiple-harvest Faustmann optimal rotation model of the Northern Forest and energy production in New Hampshire indicates that it is inappropriate to assume...

We analyze what motivates Norwegian nonindustrial private forest owners to participate in a national voluntary conservation program. Our empirical study provides new insights, since the program requires participants to relinquish all rights to forestry for eternity, including future generations....

Most studies of deforestation rely on land-cover data interpreted from satellite images. However, it is often difficult, particularly in moist forest areas, to obtain cloud-free images. Dropping or imputing missing values from satellite data relies on the assumption of independence of irrelevant...

Does community management improve the condition of local natural resources? Do interventions by official agencies enhance the functions of voluntary communal management? With 101 randomly sampled natural forests in the Middle Hills of Nepal, we address these questions. Forest condition was...

We evaluate two financial incentives to encourage nonindustrial forest landowners to undertake activities that mitigate fire losses: sharing of fire suppression costs by the landowner and sharing of fuel reduction costs by the government. First and second best outcomes are identified and...

We analyze roles of tenure insecurity and household endowments in explaining tree growing in Ethiopia, where farmers cannot sell or mortgage land and factor markets are imperfect. Unlike most other studies, we use panel data and examine determinants of the decision and intensity of tree growing....

Dwindling area of old-growth forest is of concern in many regions of the world. Forest reserves provide one solution. But highly productive timberlands are typically excluded from reserves due to cost. In this study, old-growth forest is defined by structural attributes believed to be important...