Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Impacts of certification, uncertified concessions, and protected areas on forest loss in Cameroon, 2000 to 2013

Publication ,  Journal Article
Panlasigui, S; Jimena Rico-Straffon, ; Alexander Pfaff, ; Jennifer Swenson, ; Colby Loucks,
Published in: Biological conservation
November 2018

Deforestation and forest fragmentation are leading drivers of biodiversity loss. Protected areas have been the leading conservation policy response, yet their scale and scope remain inadequate to meet biodiversity conservation targets. Managed forest concessions increasingly have been recognized as a complement to protected areas in meeting conservation targets. Similarly, programs for voluntary third-party certification of concession management aim to create incentives for logging companies to manage forests more sustainably. Rigorous evidence on the impacts from large-scale certification programs is thereby critical, yet detailed field observations are limited, temporally and spatially. Remotely-sensed data, in contrast, can provide repeated observations over time and at a fine spatial scale, albeit with less detail. Using the Global Forest Change dataset, we examine annual forest loss in Cameroon during 2000–2013 to assess the impact of Forest Stewardship Council certification, as well as uncertified logging concessions and national parks. We use panel regressions that control for the effects of unobserved factors that vary across space or time. We find low forest loss inside the boundaries of each management intervention, with <1% lost over the study period. Yet those low levels of loss appear to be influenced more by a site's proximity to drivers of deforestation, such as distances to population centers or roads, than by national parks, uncertified concessions, or certification. The exception is that if a site faces high deforestation pressure, uncertified logging concessions appear to reduce forest loss. This may reflect private companies' incentives to protect rights to forest use. Such an influence of private logging companies could provide a foundation for future impacts from certification upon rates of forest loss, at least within areas that are facing elevated deforestation pressures.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Biological conservation

DOI

ISSN

0006-3207

Publication Date

November 2018

Volume

227

Start / End Page

160 / 166

Related Subject Headings

  • Ecology
  • 4104 Environmental management
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 07 Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
  • 06 Biological Sciences
  • 05 Environmental Sciences
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Panlasigui, S., Jimena Rico-Straffon, ., Alexander Pfaff, ., Jennifer Swenson, ., & Colby Loucks, . (2018). Impacts of certification, uncertified concessions, and protected areas on forest loss in Cameroon, 2000 to 2013. Biological Conservation, 227, 160–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.09.013
Panlasigui, Stephanie, Stephanie Jimena Rico-Straffon, Stephanie Alexander Pfaff, Stephanie Jennifer Swenson, and Stephanie Colby Loucks. “Impacts of certification, uncertified concessions, and protected areas on forest loss in Cameroon, 2000 to 2013.” Biological Conservation 227 (November 2018): 160–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.09.013.
Panlasigui S, Jimena Rico-Straffon, Alexander Pfaff, Jennifer Swenson, Colby Loucks. Impacts of certification, uncertified concessions, and protected areas on forest loss in Cameroon, 2000 to 2013. Biological conservation. 2018 Nov;227:160–6.
Panlasigui, Stephanie, et al. “Impacts of certification, uncertified concessions, and protected areas on forest loss in Cameroon, 2000 to 2013.” Biological Conservation, vol. 227, Nov. 2018, pp. 160–66. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2018.09.013.
Panlasigui S, Jimena Rico-Straffon, Alexander Pfaff, Jennifer Swenson, Colby Loucks. Impacts of certification, uncertified concessions, and protected areas on forest loss in Cameroon, 2000 to 2013. Biological conservation. 2018 Nov;227:160–166.
Journal cover image

Published In

Biological conservation

DOI

ISSN

0006-3207

Publication Date

November 2018

Volume

227

Start / End Page

160 / 166

Related Subject Headings

  • Ecology
  • 4104 Environmental management
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 07 Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
  • 06 Biological Sciences
  • 05 Environmental Sciences