[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/pseptp/halshs-01713390.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Forest Degradation and Economic Growth in Nepal, 2003–2010

Author

Listed:
  • Jean-Marie Baland

    (CRED - Centre de Recherche en Economie du Developpement - FUNDP - Facultés Universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research, BREAD)

  • François Libois

    (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CRED - Centre de Recherche en Economie du Developpement - FUNDP - Facultés Universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix)

  • Dilip Mookherjee

    (BU - Boston University [Boston], BREAD)

Abstract
We investigate the relation between economic growth, household firewood collection and forest conditions in Nepal between 2003 and 2010. Co-movements in these are examined at the household and village levels, combining satellite imagery and household (Nepal Living Standard Measurement Survey) data. Projections of the impact of economic growth based on Engel curves turn out to be highly inaccurate: forest conditions remained stable despite considerable growth in household consumption and income. Firewood collections at the village level remained stable, as effects of demographic growth were offset by substantial reductions in per-household collections. Households substituted firewood by alternative energy sources, particularly when livestock and farm based occupations declined in importance. Engel curve specifications which include household productive assets (a proxy for occupational patterns) provide more accurate predictions. Hence structural changes accompanying economic growth play an important role in offsetting adverse environmental consequences of growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Marie Baland & François Libois & Dilip Mookherjee, 2018. "Forest Degradation and Economic Growth in Nepal, 2003–2010," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-01713390, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-01713390
    DOI: 10.1086/695690
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01713390
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01713390/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/695690?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gunnar Köhlin & Peter J. Parks, 2001. "Spatial Variability and Disincentives to Harvest: Deforestation and Fuelwood Collection in South Asia," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 77(2), pages 206-218.
    2. Mani Nepal & Apsara Nepal & Kristin Grimsurd, "undated". "Unbelievable but True -- Improved cook-stoves are not helpful in reducing firewood demand in Nepal," Working papers 51, The South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics.
    3. Edmonds, Eric V., 2002. "Government-initiated community resource management and local resource extraction from Nepal's forests," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 89-115, June.
    4. Lele, Sharachchandra M., 1991. "Sustainable development: A critical review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 607-621, June.
    5. Baland, Jean-Marie & Bardhan, Pranab & Das, Sangmitra & Mookherjee, Dilip & Sarkar, Rinki, 2007. "Managing the Environmental Consequences of Growth: Forest Degradation in the Indian mid-Himalayas," India Policy Forum, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 3(1), pages 215-277.
    6. J. Behrman & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), 1995. "Handbook of Development Economics," Handbook of Development Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    7. Magnus Hatlebakk, 2010. "Maoist Control and Level of Civil Conflict in Nepal," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 11(1), pages 99-110, March.
    8. Cooke, Priscilla & Köhlin, Gunnar & Hyde, William F., 2008. "Fuelwood, forests and community management – evidence from household studies," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(1), pages 103-135, February.
    9. Gregory Amacher & Lire Ersado & Donald Leo Grebner & William Hyde, 2004. "Disease, Microdams and Natural Resources in Tigray, Ethiopia: Impacts on Productivity and Labour Supplies," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(6), pages 122-145.
    10. Edward B. Barbier, 1998. "The Economics of Environment and Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1363.
    11. Démurger, Sylvie & Fournier, Martin, 2011. "Poverty and firewood consumption: A case study of rural households in northern China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 512-523.
    12. J. Behrman & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), 1995. "Handbook of Development Economics," Handbook of Development Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 4.
    13. Stern, David I., 2004. "The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1419-1439, August.
    14. Jennifer Alix-Garcia & Craig McIntosh & Katharine R. E. Sims & Jarrod R. Welch, 2013. "The Ecological Footprint of Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Mexico's Oportunidades Program," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 417-435, May.
    15. Duraiappah, Anantha K., 1998. "Poverty and environmental degradation: A review and analysis of the nexus," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(12), pages 2169-2179, December.
    16. Adhikari, Bhim & Di Falco, Salvatore & Lovett, Jon C., 2004. "Household characteristics and forest dependency: evidence from common property forest management in Nepal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 245-257, February.
    17. Jagger, Pamela & Shively, Gerald, 2014. "Land use change, fuel use and respiratory health in Uganda," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 713-726.
    18. Urvashi Narain & Shreekant Gupta & Klaas van ’t Veld, 2008. "Poverty and the Environment: Exploring the Relationship Between Household Incomes, Private Assets, and Natural Assets," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 84(1), pages 148-167.
    19. Couture, Stéphane & Garcia, Serge & Reynaud, Arnaud, 2012. "Household energy choices and fuelwood consumption: An econometric approach using French data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1972-1981.
    20. Dinda, Soumyananda, 2004. "Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis: A Survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 431-455, August.
    21. Barbier, Edward B., 2010. "Poverty, development, and environment," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(6), pages 635-660, December.
    22. Badi H. Baltagi & Dong Li, 2002. "Series Estimation of Partially Linear Panel Data Models with Fixed Effects," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 3(1), pages 103-116, May.
    23. Quy-Toan Do & Lakshmi Iyer, 2010. "Geography, poverty and conflict in Nepal," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 47(6), pages 735-748, November.
    24. Dasgupta, Partha & Maler, Karl-Goran, 1995. "Poverty, institutions, and the environmental resource-base," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 39, pages 2371-2463, Elsevier.
    25. François Libois, 2016. "Households in Times of War : Adaptation Strategies during the Nepal Civil War," Working Papers 1603, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    26. Nepal, Mani & Nepal, Apsara & Grimsrud, Kristine, 2011. "Unbelievable but improved cookstoves are not helpful in reducing firewood demand in Nepal," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-23, February.
    27. Arnold, J.E. Michael & Kohlin, Gunnar & Persson, Reidar, 2006. "Woodfuels, livelihoods, and policy interventions: Changing Perspectives," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 596-611, March.
    28. Rasmus Heltberg & Thomas Channing Arndt & Nagothu Udaya Sekhar, 2000. "Fuelwood Consumption and Forest Degradation: A Household Model for Domestic Energy Substitution in Rural India," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 76(2), pages 213-232.
    29. Partha Dasgupta, 1995. "The Population Problem: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1879-1902, December.
    30. Gundimeda, Haripriya & Kohlin, Gunnar, 2008. "Fuel demand elasticities for energy and environmental policies: Indian sample survey evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 517-546, March.
    31. Bluffstone Randall A., 1995. "The Effect of Labor Market Performance on Deforestation in Developing Countries under Open Access: An Example from Rural Nepal," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 42-63, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vallino, Elena & Aldahsev,Gani, 2013. "NGOs and participatory conservation in developing countries: why are there inefficiencies?," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201318, University of Turin.
    2. Bošković, Branko & Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Pelli, Martino & Risch, Anna, 2023. "The effect of forest access on the market for fuelwood in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    3. Novice Patrick Bakehe, 2020. "L'accès à l’électricité: une solution pour réduire la déforestation en Afrique?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(3), pages 338-348, September.
    4. Leone, Marinella, 2019. "Women as decision makers in community forest management: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 180-191.
    5. Ngawang Dendup, 2021. "Returns to Grid Electricity on Firewood Consumption and Mechanism," Working Papers 2109, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics.
    6. Bharadwaj, Bishal & Subedi, Mukti Nath & Malakar, Yuwan & Ashworth, Peta, 2023. "Low-capacity decentralized electricity systems limit the adoption of electronic appliances in rural Nepal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    7. Aldashev, Gani & Vallino, Elena, 2019. "The dilemma of NGOs and participatory conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Jung, Suhyun & Rogers, Martha, 2024. "Mobile phone adoption, deforestation, and agricultural land use in Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    9. Boskovic, Branko & Chakravorty, Ujjayant & Pelli, Martino & Risch, Anna, 2018. "The Effect of Forest Access on the Market for Fuelwood in India," TSE Working Papers 18-925, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    10. Dendup, Ngawang, 2022. "Returns to grid electricity on firewood and kerosene: Mechanism," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jack Gregory & David I. Stern, 2012. "Fuel Choices in Rural Maharashtra," CCEP Working Papers 1207, Centre for Climate & Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    2. Bluffstone, Randy & Robinson, Elizabeth & Guthiga, Paul, 2012. "Deforestation and forest degradation are estimated to account for between 12 percent and 20 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions. These activities, largely in the developing world, released abou," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-11-efd, Resources for the Future.
    3. Kohlin, Gunnar & Sills, Erin O. & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K. & Wilfong, Christopher, 2011. "Energy, gender and development: what are the linkages ? where is the evidence ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5800, The World Bank.
    4. Jean-Marie Baland & Pranab Bardhan & Sanghamitra Das & Dilip Mookherjee & Rinki Sarkar, 2010. "The Environmental Impact of Poverty: Evidence from Firewood Collection in Rural Nepal," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(1), pages 23-61, October.
    5. Démurger, Sylvie & Fournier, Martin, 2011. "Poverty and firewood consumption: A case study of rural households in northern China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 512-523.
    6. Yang, Xiaojun & Xu, Jintao & Xu, Xiaojie & Yi, Yuanyuan & Hyde, William F., 2020. "Collective forest tenure reform and household energy consumption: A case study in Yunnan Province, China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    7. Jean-Marie Baland & Pranab Bardhan & Sangharmitra Das & Dilip Mookherjee, 2009. "Forest Degradation in the Himalayas: Determinants and Policy Options," Working Papers 1002, University of Namur, Department of Economics.
    8. Gebreegziabher, Zenebe & Mekonnen, Alemu & Kassie, Menale & Köhlin, Gunnar, 2012. "Urban energy transition and technology adoption: The case of Tigrai, northern Ethiopia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 410-418.
    9. St. Clair, Priscilla Cooke, 2016. "Community forest management, gender and fuelwood collection in rural Nepal," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 52-71.
    10. Kowsari, Reza & Zerriffi, Hisham, 2011. "Three dimensional energy profile:," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7505-7517.
    11. Bluffstone, Randy & Robinson, Elizabeth & Guthiga, Paul, 2013. "REDD+and community-controlled forests in low-income countries: Any hope for a linkage?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 43-52.
    12. Guta, Dawit Diriba, 2014. "Effect of fuelwood scarcity and socio-economic factors on household bio-based energy use and energy substitution in rural Ethiopia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 217-227.
    13. Malla, Sunil & Timilsina, Govinda R, 2014. "Household cooking fuel choice and adoption of improved cookstoves in developing countries : a review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6903, The World Bank.
    14. François Libois & Jean-Marie Baland & Nicolas Delbart & Subhrendu Pattanayak, 2021. "Community Forest Management: The story behind a success story in Nepal," DeFiPP Working Papers 2106, University of Namur, Development Finance and Public Policies.
    15. Meilby, Henrik & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Byg, Anja & Larsen, Helle Overgaard & Nielsen, Øystein Juul & Puri, Lila & Rayamajhi, Santosh, 2014. "Are Forest Incomes Sustainable? Firewood and Timber Extraction and Productivity in Community Managed Forests in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 113-124.
    16. Robyn Meeks & Katharine R. E. Sims & Hope Thompson, 2019. "Waste Not: Can Household Biogas Deliver Sustainable Development?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 72(3), pages 763-794, March.
    17. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Behera, Bhagirath & Ali, Akhter, 2017. "Factors determining household use of clean and renewable energy sources for lighting in Sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 661-672.
    18. Guta, Dawit Diriba, 2012. "Application of an almost ideal demand system (AIDS) to Ethiopian rural residential energy use: Panel data evidence," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 528-539.
    19. Paudel, Jayash, 2018. "Community-Managed Forests, Household Fuelwood Use and Food Consumption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 62-73.
    20. Paudel, Jayash, 2016. "Community-Managed Forests and Household Welfare: Empirical Evidence from Nepal," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235481, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-01713390. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Caroline Bauer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.