How much deforestation do protected areas avoid in tropical Andean landscapes?

• Published in: Environmental science & policy Vol. 56; pp. 56 - 66
• Main Authors: Cuenca, Pablo, Arriagada, Rodrigo, Echeverría, Cristian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2016
• Subjects: Avoided deforestation; Conservation; Conservation policy; Decision making; Deforestation; Estimates; Forests; Matching; PAS; Policies; Protected areas; REDD; Tropical Andean forest; Wildlife conservation; ISE, Ecuador; Protected areas; Matching; Avoided deforestation; Tropical Andean forest; REDD; Conservation policy

•Conventional methods can overestimate the avoided deforestation of PAs.•We found that protection reduced deforestation in approximately 6% of the protected forests.•Conventional approaches fail to control for observable covariates correlated with both protection and deforestation.•This research wil...