CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Black, Benjamin Samuel |
|---|---|
| Title | Assessing the Ecological Effectiveness of Protected Areas in Cambodia: A Quasi-experimental Counterfactual Estimation of Avoided Deforestation |
| Summary | In the face of global environmental change, protected areas (PAs) have become an increasingly important tool in modern conservation, and as such there is a clear imperative to maximise the benefits they provide. In this regard a growing field of interest is the quantification of PA ecological effectiveness, often expressed in terms of avoided deforestation achieved relative to unprotected areas. However, such assessments are confounded by biases in both the non-random siting of PAs within landscapes as well as differential pressure upon their resources. These biases can be overcome by the use of quasi-experimental counterfactual study designs, that evaluate the impact of PAs against control areas of ‘similar’ biophysical and socio-economic characteristics. To contribute towards this knowledge domain this study presents an assessment of PA effectiveness for the Southeast Asian nation Cambodia, which, in light of its history of natural resource management, represents a pertinent case study. PA effectiveness was analysed using propensity score matching for three different outcome periods between 2010-2018 with the results finding significant positive treatment effects in each, with forested land in PAs being as much as 8% less likely to be deforested than similar unprotected forest. In addition to this a significant positive spillover effect of PAs was observed in 5km buffers zones adjacent to their boundaries, resulting in a maximum of 4% reduction in probability of deforestation. Furthermore, the effectiveness of PAs in Cambodia was found to vary under differential deforestation pressure as well as with regards to the duration of time since PA establishment. |
| Supervisor | Anthony, Brandon Patrick |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/black_benjamin.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University