Environmental Goods and Services and Rural Livelihoods in the Congo and Brazilian Amazon

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Environmental Goods and Services and Rural Livelihoods in the Congo and Brazilian
Amazon
Bakkegaard, Riyong Kim
Publication date:
2013
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Citation (APA):
Bakkegaard, R. K. (2013). Environmental Goods and Services and Rural Livelihoods in the Congo and Brazilian
Amazon. University of Copenhagen.

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FACULTY OF SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

E nvironmental Goods & Services and Rural

Livelihoods in the Congo and Brazilian Amazon

Riyong Kim Bakkegaard

PhD Dissertation

Copenhagen 2013
Dedicated to my father,
(1937-2012)

Ten times ten I tried and failed,
My courage paled.
Ten times ten plus one I strained,
That’s when I gained.
Ten times ten plus two are done,
And I have won.

Cross 2002, p.35
Author Riyong Kim Bakkegaard

Title Environmental Goods and Services and Rural Livelihoods in the Congo and
Brazilian Amazon

Subject area Forests, Environmental Services, Poverty and Livelihoods

Supervisors Dr. Bo Jellesmark Thorsen (Principal supervisor)
Professor
Environmental and Natural Resources Unit
Institute for Food and Resource Economics
Faculty of Science,
University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Dr. Sven Wunder (Project supervisor)
Principal Scientist,
Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Funding Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen (PhD grant)
Centre for International Forestry Research
Private foundations

Assessment Committee Thomas Lundhede, Arild Angelsen, Julia Jones

Date of submission 15 January 2013
Preface

This dissertation has been submitted to the PhD School of The Faculty of Science, University of
Copenhagen, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in
environmental economics and development.

The PhD research is a culmination of my interest in the dynamics of tropical forest conservation, poverty
alleviation and rural development, which started with studies in the environmental sciences, work in
international development, and continued during my Masters in Agricultural Development. The PhD
dissertation is primarily focused on (i) the importance of forests to local rural livelihoods across two of
largest tropical forest biomes (ii) equity and efficiency of conservation and development initiatives in both
regions (iii) policy and research implications. The empirical basis of the dissertation is quantitative
household surveys, stated preference and econometric techniques, based on data collected in two field
sites, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Brazilian Amazon, since August 2007. Both sets of
data have respectively contributed to larger global databases of Poverty Environment Network and Global
Comparative Study on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), coordinated
by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

The PhD study has officially been conducted since March 2009 to January 2013, and has produced five
articles contributing to original analysis, policy and methodology.

Riyong Kim Bakkegaard
Copenhagen, January, 2013.
Acknowledgements

This dissertation is a product of the blood, sweat, and tears of many individuals (and money of
several institutions). I am first and foremost grateful to the several hundred people in and around SDR
Juma, SDR Uatumã and Luki Biosphere Reserve, who let my team of dedicated and skilled enumerators and
assistants and I into their homes with our seemingly endless questionnaires. In Brazil, I am extremely
thankful to Denise Reis dos Nascimento, Simone Santos, Mario Acuna, Ivan Zarros, and Patricia Gallo, my
fabulous Research Assistant, Kaline Rossi do Nascimento, and boat crews , and in DRC, Nlandu Thamba,
Tsimba Phanzu, Dibandi Bivangu, Phaka Mananga Raphael, Noel Kabuyaya, and Aime Madimu, who not
only produced tremendous amounts of quality data, but made fieldwork fun. I am also thankful to field
support from institutions in Brazil, Fundacão Amazonas Sustentavel (FAS) and The Institute for the
Conservation and Sustainable Development of Amazonas (IDESAM), as well as the National Institute of
Agricultural Research (INERA), the Regional School for Integrated Forest Management (ERAIFT) and
Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) in DRC.
I would like to acknowledge the financial support that facilitated this research, including CIFOR
Global Comparative Study (GCS), NEWFOREX, Skovridder Mindefond, Torben and Alice Frimodts Fond,
WWF REDD project, LIFE Copenhagen University, Stiftelsen Løvstrupgaard, Jordbrugs Akademiker (JA),
Landbrugets Studiefond, Agricultural Development Grant, DLH, Oticon, Valborg Harting Fond, Oluf Christian
Olsen and Hustru Julie Rasmine Olsens Mindefond, Laura Bentzens Legat, PLAN DK, and Danida. I am
especially thankful to all my co-authors for their professional and hard work, particularly towards the end,
and key people from Copenhagen University and CIFOR, who were instrumental in the realisation of my
ambitions in this dissertation. Firstly, my supervisors, Bo Jellesmark Thorsen and Sven Wunder, as well as
Carsten Smith-Hall and the CIFOR Poverty Environment Network (PEN) and Global Comparative Study (GCS)
groups. Secondly, CIFOR Brazil and Joey for logistical and moral support in Rio. Finally, superstar colleagues
at Division 5 that are not only professional but always made our meetings a massive stress-release.
Most importantly, I could not have done this dissertation without the support of my family,
especially my husband, Bjarne. Thank you for the endless hours, energy and dedication to our little family
that made it possible to do this study, from chaperoning me on the first visit to DR Congo to being the best
caregiver to our little man, Luca, that any new mum could hope for whilst off in the Amazonian jungle. To
little Luca and coming sister: your cuteness and all-round antics outside and inside mummy’s tummy have
given me the needed breaks so things didn’t get too serious. And to my dad, words can’t describe how
much I will miss having you at my defence: you always encouraged me to “think”, and your intelligence,
commitment, and hardwork will always be my inspiration.
I hope you will be proud of finally having a in the family.
Abstract
Environmental goods and services are increasingly valued for their contributions of food,
resources and incomes to rural livelihoods of the poor in the developing world. Resources from tropical
forests not only support current consumption but also provide valuable safety nets where limited
alternatives exist. Evidence has also been provided on their ability to pull people out of poverty. However
an array of conservation interventions have in the past attempted to bridge the gap in achieving poverty
alleviation and conservation – two of the millenium’s top priorities. Conservation and development
approaches have shifted from command-and-control interventions, to integrated conservation and
development projects (ICDPs), and are now increasingly focusing on more direct conservation approaches
such as Payments for Environmental Services (PES) and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest
Degradation (REDD), relying on contractual and market-based incentives to achieve conservation. However,
incorporating pro-poor benefits and the trade-off between equity and efficiency is a topic of large debate.
Through case studies from two of the most important tropical forest regions of the world with
high rates of poverty – the Congo basin and the Brazilian Amazon – this dissertation presents empirical
evidence on the importance of environmental goods and services to livelihoods of the rural poor. The
objective of the dissertation is to examine various conservation intervention effects on livelihoods, poverty
alleviation as well as in achieving conservation goals. In a collection of five papers spanning five years of
research, the dissertation presents evidence on the livelihood effects of conservation and provides insights
on various points of consideration in the equitable and efficient design of future conservation
interventions. The first three papers deal with the livelihood aspects of conservation interventions. Paper 1
presents a new method of characterising poverty groups in the Congo, using combined measures of assets
and income, and importantly how they rely on the environmental goods provided by a Biosphere Reserve.
Paper 2 examines the exploitation of two high value non-timber forest products (NTFPs), bushmeat and eru
(Gnetum africanum), in the same Biosphere Reserve and their determinants of collection as well as
contribution to asset accumulation and thereby poverty alleviation. Paper 3 analyses the income and
incentive effects of conservation transfers and other transfers under various land use regulated settings in
the Brazilian Amazon. It looks at the welfare implications of payments and potential spillover effects on
land use above land use conditionalities attached to some of the transfers. The last two papers deal with
the efficiency aspects of implementing effective conservation interventions, namely REDD. Paper 4
presents a simple innovation of stated preference methods to uncover the willingness-to-accept (WTA)
compensation for foregone land use amongst households in the Brazilian Amazon, and compares this to
actual current measures of agricultural income. It uncovers some basic household characteristics that can
predictably determine levels of compensation required. Paper 5 is a theoretical piece using a case study
from the Brazilian Amazon, on how full and asymmetric information affects capture of rents (efficiency),
welfare of recipients (equity) and forest conservation (effectiveness).
All papers have contributed to the discussion on equity, efficiency and effectiveness implications
of conservation interventions. Major learning points have outlined that applicability of certain interventions
from one context to another may not be appropriate – for example from a well-governed and land use
regulated Brazilian Amazon to the politically unstable and resource lacking Congo. But, through new
perspectives such as policy makers or poverty classifications, we can evaluate trade-offs in a new light.
Finally, innovating new methods in estimating opportunity costs can contribute to the realisation of
emissions reductions through REDD interventions.

Keywords: livelihoods, conservation, PES, REDD, efficiency, equity
Dansk resume

Miljøgoder og tjenester værdsættes i stigende grad for deres bidrag med fødevarer, ressourcer og
indkomst til den fattige landbefolknings levevilkår i udviklingslandene. Ressourcer fra tropiske skove
understøtter ikke blot det løbende forbrug men udgør også et værdifuldt sikkerhedsnet i områder hvor der
er begrænsede alternative forsyningskilder. Det er også påvist at skovressourcer kan trække mennesker ud
af fattigdom. Der er forsøgt en række tiltag til at bygge bro mellem fattigdomsbekæmpelse og
skovbevarelse – to af dem er blandt tusindårets topprioriteter. Bevarelses og udviklingstiltag er skiftet fra
påbud om bevarelse til integrerede bevarelses og udviklingsprojekter (Integrated Conservation and
Development Projects, ICDP), hvor der nu i stigende grad fokuseres på direkte betaling for miljøtjenester
såsom Payments for Environmental Services (PES) og Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest
Degradation (REDD) som begge bygger på kontraktmæssige og markedsbaserede incitamenter til
skovbevarelse. Der er imidlertid stor diskussion om hvordan man skal indarbejde fattigdomsorienterede
udbytter og balancen mellem lighed og efficiens.
Ved hjælp af konkrete tilfælde fra to af verdens vigtigste tropiske skovregioner med udbredt
fattigdom – Congobækkenet og brasiliansk Amazonas – viser denne afhandling på empirisk grundlag hvor
vigtige miljøgoder og tjenester er for den fattige landbefolknings levevilkår. Afhandlingens formål er at
analysere forskellige indgrebs indvirkning på levevilkår og fattigdomsbekæmpelse samt på opnåelsen af
skovbevarelse. I fem artikler fra fem års forskning viser afhandlingen bevarelsens indvirkning på
levevilkårene og belyser forskellige aspekter med hensyn til en retfærdig og effektiv udformning af
fremtidige tiltag til skovbevarelse. De første tre artikler omhandler levevilkårsaspekter af bevarelsestiltag.
Artikel 1 viser en ny metode til beskrivelse af fattigdomsgrupper i Congo ved hjælp af kombinerede
målinger af aktiver og indkomst, og – som noget vigtigt – hvordan de afhænger af de miljømæssige goder
fra et fredet skovområde (Biosphere Reserve). Artikel 2 undersøger udnyttelsen af to værdifulde ikke-
tømmer produkter (NTFPs), vildtkød (bushmeat) og eru (Gnetum africanum) i det samme Biosphere
Reserve, og hvad der bestemmer deres indsamling og bidrag til akkumulering af aktiver – og dermed tiltag
til fattigdomsbekæmpelse. Artikel 3 analyserer indkomst og incitamentsvirkninger af bevarelses og andre
overførsler ved forskellige former for regulering af arealudnyttelse i brasiliansk Amazonas. Der belyses
velfærdsvirkninger af betalinger og potentielle afsmittende effekter på arealudnyttelse, udover dem der er
forudsætning for overførsel. De to sidste artikler omhandler efficiensaspekter af virkningsfulde
bevarelsestiltag, nemlig REDD. Artikel 4 viser en enkel nydannelse af erklæret præference metoden til
afsløring af villighed til at acceptere kompensationsbetaling (willingness-to-accept, WTA) for tabt
arealudnyttelse blandt husholdninger i brasiliansk Amazonas og sammenligner dette med den nuværende
størrelse af landbrugsindkomst. Artiklen belyser visse husholdningskarakteristika som kan forudsige
niveauer af forlangt kompensation. Artikel 5 viser teoridannelse på grundlag af et tilfælde fra brasiliansk
Amazonas om hvordan fuld og asymmetrisk information påvirker opnåelse af afkast (efficiens),
modtagernes velfærd (lighed) og skovbevarelse (effektivitet).
Alle artikler bidrager til diskussionen af hvordan lighed, efficiens og effektivitet påvirkes af
bevarelsestiltag. Det er en vigtig erkendelse at visse tiltags brugbarhed ikke kan overføres fra en
sammenhæng til en anden, fx fra det velstyrede og arealanvendelsesregulerede brasiliansk Amazonas til
det politisk ustabile og ressourcefattige Congo. Men ved anlæggelse af nye perspektiver, såsom
klassificering af planlæggere og fattigdom, kan balancer vurderes i et nyt lys. Og nye metoder til estimering
af offeromkostninger kan bidrage til at reducere udslip gennem REDD tiltag.

Nøgleord: levevilkår, bevarelse, PES, REDD, efficiens, lighed