Governance regime and location influence avoided deforestation success of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon

Protected areas in tropical countries are managed under different governance regimes, the relative effectiveness of which in avoiding deforestation has been the subject of recent debates. Participants in these debates answer appeals for more strict protection with the argument that sustainable use areas and indigenous lands can balance deforestation pressures by leveraging local support to create and enforce protective regulations. Which protection strategy is more effective can also depend on (i) the level of deforestation pressures to which an area is exposed and (ii) the intensity of government enforcement. We examine this relationship empirically, using data from 292 protected areas in the Brazilian…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: CNH-0709545, 0709545
• GA
  Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
• UO
  University of Michigan
• CN
  Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico