In:
PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science (PLoS), Vol. 17, No. 6 ( 2022-6-23), p. e0269729-
Abstract:
Deforestation continues at rapid rates despite global conservation efforts. Evidence suggests that governance may play a critical role in influencing deforestation, and while a number of studies have demonstrated a clear relationship between national-level governance and deforestation, much remains to be known about the relative importance of subnational governance to deforestation outcomes. With a focus on the Brazilian Amazon, this study aims to understand the relationship between governance and deforestation at the municipal level. Drawing on the World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) as a guiding conceptual framework, and incorporating the additional dimension of environmental governance, we identified a wide array of publicly available data sources related to governance indicators that we used to select relevant governance variables. We compiled a dataset of 22 municipal-level governance variables covering the 2005–2018 period for 457 municipalities in the Brazilian Amazon. Using an econometric approach, we tested the relationship between governance variables and deforestation rates in a fixed-effects panel regression analysis. We found that municipalities with increasing numbers of agricultural companies tended to have higher rates of deforestation, municipalities with an environmental fund tended to have lower rates of deforestation, and municipalities that had previously elected a female mayor tended to have lower rates of deforestation. These results add to the wider conversation on the role of local-level governance, revealing that certain governance variables may contribute to halting deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1932-6203
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.g001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.g002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.g003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.g004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.t001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.t002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s004
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s005
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s006
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s007
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s008
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s009
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s010
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s011
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s012
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s013
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.s014
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.r001
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.r002
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.r003
DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0269729.r004
Language:
English
Publisher:
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Publication Date:
2022
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2267670-3
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