The Economic Effects of Community Forest Management in the Maya Biosphere Reserve Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Corinne Bocci Graduate Program in Agricultural, Environmental & Developmental Economics The Ohio State University 2019 Dissertation Committee Brent Sohngen, Advisor Daniela Miteva Abdoul Sam Frank Lupi 1 Copyrighted by Corinne Bocci 2019 2 Abstract This dissertation examines the conservation and economic development effects of community forest management in the Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR). Maintaining the world’s forest resources in developing countries has been a difficult, but necessary task since conserving tropical forests is crucial for preserving biodiversity and sequestering carbon. However, many communities located near the forest depend on extracting forest resources as a source of income and many governments in developing countries cannot devote enough resources to enforce forest protection efforts. This creates an overexploitation problem since many of these forests are common-pool resources that are rivalrous and non-excludable because of the lack of enforcement of the ill-defined property rights. To remedy this issue, some countries have provided communal property rights to encourage sustainable resource use (Ostrom 1990; Schlager and Ostrom, 1992). The idea is that households will work together and monitor each other to protect the area of land to which they have property rights from over exploitation. In exchange, the group that manages the area is given exclusive access to the forest resources and is able to earn a sustainable source of income. However, for community-based forest management to have a higher likelihood of being effective, households that are participating in the forest management system can receive an incentive in addition to the forest being conserved. ii The goal of this dissertation is to assess whether the economic development and conservation benefits of the community forest concessions in the Maya Biosphere Reserve are effective and whether receiving payments for strict conservation would be preferred by households. Chapter 1 is an introduction into community forestry and the background of the Maya Biosphere Reserve. In Chapter 2, I examine the impact of concession membership on annual household income to determine if the benefits of participating in community forest management vary by community. Chapter 3 assesses the private and social benefits of the forest concessions in the Maya Biosphere reserve and examines whether the combined conservation and development benefits of implementing the concessions outweigh the costs. In Chapter 4, I use results from a discrete choice experiment I conducted in Maya Biosphere Reserve communities to determine whether households would be willing to receive payments for conserving the forest and sequestering carbon at the expense of sustainable timber harvesting. iii Acknowledgements This work would not have been possible without the support of several individuals. First, I would like to thank my advisor, Brent Sohngen, for being an outstanding mentor who has not only provided funding for this life-changing opportunity, but has given me continual advice, encouragement, and support for this project. Second, I would like to thank my committee member Daniela Miteva for helping me develop my skills as a researcher and providing me with research opportunities and supportive advice. I would also like to thank my committee members Abdoul Sam and Frank Lupi for serving on my committee and providing valuable feedback on my dissertation. During my fieldwork in Guatemala, Bayron Milian was instrumental in making the survey collection process a success by providing me with advice, resources, and contacts. Additionally, I would like to thank Alexis Scharrer, Sarah Grossman, and Shelby Stults for their help and support during the data collection process. I would also like to thank my enumerators Patricia Hor, Gabriel Oliva, Paula Suntecún, Gilmer López, and Jennefer Salas for their hard work and long hours administering the Guatemalan household surveys. Finally, my friends and family have also given me endless support and encouragement throughout my time as a doctoral student. I would especially like to thank Shicong Xu, Jian Chen, John Dougherty, Beth Robison Botkins, Katy Bender, ii Tony Gallenstein, and Khushbu Mishra who have not only given me useful feedback on this work, but have also been amazing friends. iii Vita 2010................................................................Nordonia High School 2014................................................................B.S.B.A. Business Economics, Youngstown State University 2016................................................................M.S. Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University 2016 to present...............................................Graduate Teaching/Research Associate, Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University Publications Bocci, C., Fortmann, L., Sohngen, B., & Milian, B. “The impact of community forest concessions on income: an analysis of communities in the Maya Biosphere Reserve.” World Development, 107, 10-21 Fields of Study Major Field: Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics iv Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii Vita ..................................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1. Community Forestry in the Maya Biosphere Reserve ...................................... 1 1.1 Community Forestry ................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Maya Biosphere Reserve Background ...................................................................... 5 Chapter 2. The Impact of Forest Concessions on Income ............................................... 10 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 10 2.2 Model of Household Labor Allocation ................................................................... 14 2.3 Data ......................................................................................................................... 22 2.4 Empirical Methods .................................................................................................. 28 2.5 Results ..................................................................................................................... 31 2.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 38 Chapter 3: Assessing the private and social benefits of forest concessions in the Maya Biosphere Reserve ............................................................................................................ 42 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 42 3.2 Data ......................................................................................................................... 47 3.2.1 Household Survey Data Collection .................................................................. 47 3.2.2 Biophysical Dara .............................................................................................. 52 3.3 Theory ..................................................................................................................... 53 3.4 Estimation ............................................................................................................... 55 3.4.1 Effect of concession membership on income .................................................. 55 3.4.2 Effect of concession management on conservation outcomes ......................... 61 v 3.5 Results ..................................................................................................................... 65 3.5.1 Income effect ................................................................................................... 65 3.5.2 Conservation effect .......................................................................................... 69 3.5.3 Conservation and income trade-offs ................................................................ 72 3.5.4 Concession valuation ....................................................................................... 74 3.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 76 Chapter 4: Timber or Carbon? Evaluating forest conservation strategies through a discrete choice experiment ................................................................................................ 80 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 80 4.2 Methods