Phillip Mohebalian - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Papers by Phillip Mohebalian
Forest Policy and Economics
Land Use Policy
Payments for Forest Conservation (PFC) programs financially compensate forest owners to maintain ... more Payments for Forest Conservation (PFC) programs financially compensate forest owners to maintain and increase the provision of ecosystem services. Nonetheless, their effectiveness and additionality in preventing deforestation and degradation remain contested. The design of PFC contracts can influence landowner participation and in-turn a program's prospects for additionality. We examined preferences for select PFC contractual attributes among over 200 private forest owners in Ecuador's Amazon basin using a discrete choice experiment. Forest owners at high-risk of deforestation, as compared to others of lower risk, were almost eight-times more likely to select contracts that allowed timber harvest under a management plan, about three-times more likely to select contracts managed by local municipalities or international NGOs, and showed stronger preferences for long-term contracts. To increase enrollment of forest lands at higher risk of deforestation and degradation PFC contracts might need to reconsider the benefits of increasing financial incentives, pursue administration through local municipalities or international NGOs, allow sustainable timber harvesting, and seek permanent agreements.
Ecological Economics
Assessments of programs offering payments for forest conservation have largely focused on their c... more Assessments of programs offering payments for forest conservation have largely focused on their contribution to avoiding deforestation but have overlooked degradation. We integrated remotely-sensed forest cover images, georeferenced landscape information, field-level forest inventories and face-to-face landowner surveys to quantify avoided deforestation and degradation within the context of Ecuador's Socio Bosque Program (PSB). We found the PSB prevented 9% of enrolled forest area in Ecuador's Amazon Basin from being deforested over the 2008–2014 period. This value is higher than previous assessments conducted in other Latin American nations. Inventory data suggest that forests within PSB-enrolled areas exhibited less evidence of degradation although statistical differences were only marginally significant. On average, PSB-enrolled forests had between one and two more tree species per hectare than non-enrolled forests. These additional tree species were twice as likely to be of commercial timber value and at greater threat of extinction.
Remote Sensing
The ecological impact of continental scale land-use policies that influence forest management is ... more The ecological impact of continental scale land-use policies that influence forest management is often difficult to quantify. European forest conservation began in 1909 with a marked increase in designated areas with the inception of Natura 2000 in the early 1990s. It has been shown that increases in European forest mortality may be linked to climate variability. Measuring productivity response to climate variability may be a valid proxy indicating a forest’s ability to bear this disturbance. Net Primary Production (NPP) response to climate variability has also been linked to functional diversity within forests. Using a European specific annual MODIS NPP estimates, we assess the NPP response to climate variability differences between actively managed forests, which experience human interventions and conserved, Protected Area (PA) forests with minimal to no human impact. We found, on the continental scale, little to no differences in NPP response between managed and conserved forests...
Forest Policy and Economics
Land Use Policy
Payments for Forest Conservation (PFC) programs financially compensate forest owners to maintain ... more Payments for Forest Conservation (PFC) programs financially compensate forest owners to maintain and increase the provision of ecosystem services. Nonetheless, their effectiveness and additionality in preventing deforestation and degradation remain contested. The design of PFC contracts can influence landowner participation and in-turn a program's prospects for additionality. We examined preferences for select PFC contractual attributes among over 200 private forest owners in Ecuador's Amazon basin using a discrete choice experiment. Forest owners at high-risk of deforestation, as compared to others of lower risk, were almost eight-times more likely to select contracts that allowed timber harvest under a management plan, about three-times more likely to select contracts managed by local municipalities or international NGOs, and showed stronger preferences for long-term contracts. To increase enrollment of forest lands at higher risk of deforestation and degradation PFC contracts might need to reconsider the benefits of increasing financial incentives, pursue administration through local municipalities or international NGOs, allow sustainable timber harvesting, and seek permanent agreements.
Ecological Economics
Assessments of programs offering payments for forest conservation have largely focused on their c... more Assessments of programs offering payments for forest conservation have largely focused on their contribution to avoiding deforestation but have overlooked degradation. We integrated remotely-sensed forest cover images, georeferenced landscape information, field-level forest inventories and face-to-face landowner surveys to quantify avoided deforestation and degradation within the context of Ecuador's Socio Bosque Program (PSB). We found the PSB prevented 9% of enrolled forest area in Ecuador's Amazon Basin from being deforested over the 2008–2014 period. This value is higher than previous assessments conducted in other Latin American nations. Inventory data suggest that forests within PSB-enrolled areas exhibited less evidence of degradation although statistical differences were only marginally significant. On average, PSB-enrolled forests had between one and two more tree species per hectare than non-enrolled forests. These additional tree species were twice as likely to be of commercial timber value and at greater threat of extinction.
Remote Sensing
The ecological impact of continental scale land-use policies that influence forest management is ... more The ecological impact of continental scale land-use policies that influence forest management is often difficult to quantify. European forest conservation began in 1909 with a marked increase in designated areas with the inception of Natura 2000 in the early 1990s. It has been shown that increases in European forest mortality may be linked to climate variability. Measuring productivity response to climate variability may be a valid proxy indicating a forest’s ability to bear this disturbance. Net Primary Production (NPP) response to climate variability has also been linked to functional diversity within forests. Using a European specific annual MODIS NPP estimates, we assess the NPP response to climate variability differences between actively managed forests, which experience human interventions and conserved, Protected Area (PA) forests with minimal to no human impact. We found, on the continental scale, little to no differences in NPP response between managed and conserved forests...