Impact of industrial logging concession on deforestation and forest degradation in the DRC

Chervier Colas, Ximenes Arimatéa C., Ntirumenyerwa Mihigo Blaise-Pascal, Doumenge Charles. 2024. Impact of industrial logging concession on deforestation and forest degradation in the DRC. World Development, 173:106393, 17 p.

Liste HCERES des revues (en SHS) : oui

Thème(s) HCERES des revues (en SHS) : Economie-gestion; Science politique

Résumé : The Congo Basin is home to the second largest tropical humid forest in the world and an important participant in climate change mitigation. While the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) boasts the largest proportion of Congo basin forests, it is also the main contributor to forest loss. Industrial logging concession is a forest management model that is likely to expand in the DRC in the coming years as the Government recently announced the probable end of the 2002 moratorium on logging concessions. It is thus crucial to understand whether this model can further the DRC's deforestation reduction efforts. The literature suggests that the effect of titling forestland on avoided deforestation and forest degradation is generally limited, unless environmental restrictions are enforced. The DRC's 2002 forest code introduced a new logging concession model that includes requirements to submit and implement Forest Management Plans (FMP) and increase benefit-sharing with communities. Our paper evaluates the impact of this new model of concession contracts signed in 2011 and 2014 on deforestation and forest degradation. We use remotely sensed data series to estimate difference-in-difference models. We ensured baseline parallel trends in deforestation and similarity in baseline characteristics between control and treated units. We find no evidence that deforestation and forest degradation is significantly different between logging concessions and control areas, even for concessions that had their FMP accepted. Our study highlights the need for evaluating the impact of FMPs once they are fully implemented, the importance to improve degradation outcome variables and to conduct complementary studies analyzing impact pathways.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : dégradation des forêts, déboisement, exploitation forestière, industrie du bois, évaluation de l'impact, concession (foncière), impact sur l'environnement

Mots-clés géographiques Agrovoc : République démocratique du Congo

Mots-clés libres : Impact evaluation, Democratic Republic of Congo, Deforestation, Forest degradation, Logging concessions

Classification Agris : K70 - Dégâts causés aux forêts et leur protection
K01 - Foresterie - Considérations générales
P01 - Conservation de la nature et ressources foncières

Champ stratégique Cirad : CTS 4 (2019-) - Santé des plantes, des animaux et des écosystèmes

Agences de financement hors UE : Direktoratet for Utviklingssamarbeid, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers

Auteurs et affiliations

• Chervier Colas, CIRAD-ES-UPR Forêts et sociétés (FRA) - auteur correspondant
• Ximenes Arimatéa C., CIFOR (IDN)
• Ntirumenyerwa Mihigo Blaise-Pascal, University of Kinshasa (COD)
• Doumenge Charles, CIRAD-ES-UPR Forêts et sociétés (FRA)

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/606313/)

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