Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Jean-Marie Baland 	
Author-X-Name-First: Jean-Marie
Author-X-Name-Last: Baland
Author-Email: jean-marie.baland@fundp.ac.be
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Namur
Author-Name: Pranab Bardhan
Author-X-Name-First: Pranab
Author-X-Name-Last: Bardhan
Author-Email: bardhan@econ.berkeley.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: University of California, Berkeley
Author-Name: Sanghamitra Das
Author-X-Name-First: Sanghamitra
Author-X-Name-Last: Das
Author-Email: dasm@isid.ac.in
Author-Workplace-Name: Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi 
Author-Name: Dilip Mookherjee
Author-X-Name-First: Dilip
Author-X-Name-Last: Mookherjee
Author-Email: dilipm@bu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: Institute for Economic Development, Boston University
Title:  Forests to the People: Decentralization and Forest Degradation in the Indian Himalayas 
Abstract: Most analyses of the impact of community management of common property resources are based on cross-sectional comparisons in case studies or small samples, perception-based measurement of resource conditions, and absence of controls for unobserved community characteristics and non-random assignment of management types. This paper compares forests managed by local community groups called Van Panchayats (VPs), with protected and unprotected state forests in the Indian state of Uttaranchal.  We utilize ground-level ecological measures of forest quality including canopy cover, biomass, lopping and regeneration in 399 forests accessed by residents of a random sample of 83 villages in the mid-Himalayan region of Uttaranchal. Raw differences between VP and non-VP forest quality indicate no significant differences. We find evidence consistent with the hypothesis that these  understate the benefits of VP management owing to endogenous selection, since more degraded forests are more likely to be converted to VP forests. Controlling for forest geography, unobserved village characteristics and cross-forest spillovers, VP forests are significantly less lopped, and similar on  other dimensions. The lopping differences are greater the longer the forest has been under a VP.
Length: 33 pages
Creation-Date: 2008-03
Revision-Date: 
Publication-Status: 
File-URL:http://www.bu.edu/econ/ied/dp/papers/vpindia22.doc
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: 
Number: dp-169
Classification-JEL: 
Keywords: 
Handle: RePEc:bos:iedwpr:dp-169