Chapter 8
Using Mixed Methods to Assess Trade-Offs
Between Agricultural Decisions
and Deforestation
Jyotsna Puri
Abstract Policies that target poverty reduction are often at odds with environmental sustainability. Assessing magnitudes of trade-offs between improved livelihoods
on one side, and forest cover on the other, is important for designing win-win
development policies that may help to mitigate climate change. I use a mix of panel
data for 670 villages over a 10 year period, and combine it with historical land
records and grey literature, to understand the drivers of deforestation within
reserved forests of Thailand – an area where smallholder ethnic tribes are located.
Given that reserved forests are the last bastions of forests in Thailand, examining
what drives land clearing within these areas is important. I combine econometric
findings with qualitative reports to infer that (i) it is important to measure the
differential effects of policies on different crops, agricultural intensity and the
agricultural frontier; and (ii) within forest reserves, policies that encourage cultivation overall may not be detrimental to forest cover after all. This has important
implications for evaluators and policy makers.
Keywords Trade-offs • Poverty • Forests • Agriculture • Panel data • Thailand •
Environment • Sustainability • Deforestation • Property rights • Evaluation
8.1 Background
Other than the ocean, standing forests constitute the most important carbon sinks in
the world. Yet forests are being threatened and agricultural expansion is widely
believed to be the main reason for deforestation in developing countries.
1 A study
conducted by FAO (2001) of a stratified random sample of the world’s tropical
forests finds that 73 % of the world’s forests are being converted to non-forest land
due to agriculture. Barbier (2004) reports that cultivated area in the developing
J. Puri (*)
International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), New Delhi, India
e-mail: jpuri@3ieimpact.org
1 Barbier (2004) and Lambin et al. (2003).
© The Author(s) 2017
J.I. Uitto et al. (eds.), Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable
Development, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-43702-6_8
131
Using Mixed Methods to Assess Trade-Offs
Between Agricultural Decisions
and Deforestation
Jyotsna Puri
Abstract Policies that target poverty reduction are often at odds with environmental sustainability. Assessing magnitudes of trade-offs between improved livelihoods
on one side, and forest cover on the other, is important for designing win-win
development policies that may help to mitigate climate change. I use a mix of panel
data for 670 villages over a 10 year period, and combine it with historical land
records and grey literature, to understand the drivers of deforestation within
reserved forests of Thailand – an area where smallholder ethnic tribes are located.
Given that reserved forests are the last bastions of forests in Thailand, examining
what drives land clearing within these areas is important. I combine econometric
findings with qualitative reports to infer that (i) it is important to measure the
differential effects of policies on different crops, agricultural intensity and the
agricultural frontier; and (ii) within forest reserves, policies that encourage cultivation overall may not be detrimental to forest cover after all. This has important
implications for evaluators and policy makers.
Keywords Trade-offs • Poverty • Forests • Agriculture • Panel data • Thailand •
Environment • Sustainability • Deforestation • Property rights • Evaluation
8.1 Background
Other than the ocean, standing forests constitute the most important carbon sinks in
the world. Yet forests are being threatened and agricultural expansion is widely
believed to be the main reason for deforestation in developing countries.
1 A study
conducted by FAO (2001) of a stratified random sample of the world’s tropical
forests finds that 73 % of the world’s forests are being converted to non-forest land
due to agriculture. Barbier (2004) reports that cultivated area in the developing
J. Puri (*)
International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), New Delhi, India
e-mail: jpuri@3ieimpact.org
1 Barbier (2004) and Lambin et al. (2003).
© The Author(s) 2017
J.I. Uitto et al. (eds.), Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable
Development, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-43702-6_8
131