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Forest ownership matters in Madagascar

The Economist reviews a recent study of property rights and forest cover in Madagascar, conducted by a group of Swedish and Malagasy researchers and led by Dr. Thomas Elmqvist of Stockholm University. Using satellite data to analyze patterns of forest cover, the research team correlated population density, legal and customary ownership of forest areas, and forest cover since 1984.


The findings show that in the sparsely-populated West, neither formal nor customary tenure was well-defined and enforced, and forest cover has dwindled. By contrast, in the North, land rights have been well-defined and the satellite data show a continuous increase in forest cover since 1984.


Read the summary in the Economist here.


Read the full article by Elmqvist et. al. here.

 

 

Posted By Megan Liddle at 10:12am on June 04, 2007


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