Death by 1,000 Cuts: Road Politics at Sumatra′s Kerinci Seblat National Park

Bettinger, Keith Andrew

doi:10.4103/0972-4923.145143

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…However, the extent of long-term economic risks to which project investors and international lenders are exposed is often not apparent or fully understood [27,42,43]. This arises from inadequate dissemination and public debate of the full array of environmental, economic and socio-political risks of road development, the revelation of which could greatly assist stakeholders in the planning and execution of major projects [44].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic, Socio-Political and Environmental Risks of Road Development in the Tropics

et al. 2017

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It is projected that 25 million km of new paved roads will be developed globally by 2050 - enough to encircle the planet more than 600 times. Roughly 90% of new roads will be built in developing nations, frequently in tropical and subtropical regions with high biodiversity and environmental values. Many developing nations are borrowing from international lenders or negotiating access to their natural resources in order to expand their transportation infrastructure. Given the unprecedented pace and extent of these initiatives, it is vital to thoroughly assess the potential consequences of large-scale road and highway projects. In appropriate contexts and locales, new roads can promote sizeable economic and social benefits. If poorly planned or implemented, however, new roads can provoke serious cost overruns, corruption and environmental impacts, while generating sparse economic benefits and intense social and political conflict. Using examples from developing nations, we identify risks that can hinder road projects in wet and dry tropical environments. Such risks, we assert, are often inadequately considered by project proponents, evaluators and the general public, creating a systematic tendency to overestimate project benefits while understating project risks. A more precautionary approach is needed to reduce risks while maximizing benefits of new road projects in the tropics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic, Socio-Political and Environmental Risks of Road Development in the Tropics

et al. 2017

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“…Althrough accessible villages are exposed to social-political risks often associated with roads, respondents did not explicitly identify these in the household survey. Social tension (Bettinger, 2014), unequal benefits (Khandker et al., 2009), and illegal wildlife poaching (Wilkie, Shaw, Rotberg, Morelli, & Auzel, 2000) were not identified by respondents. However, during key informant discussions, villagers were very aware of the social disruptions associated with increased accessibility of forest areas, including logging, migration, and concession development.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning from Local Perceptions for Strategic Road Development in Cambodia’s Protected Forests

Riggs

Langston

Sayer

et al. 2020

Tropical Conservation Science

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Road development in tropical forest landscapes is contentious. Local preferences are often subordinated to global economic and environmental concerns. Opportunities to seek solutions based on local context are rare. We examined local perspectives on road development within Cambodia's Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary to explore opportunities for optimizing conservation and development outcomes. We conducted household surveys to document the perceived benefits and risks of road development. We found that in the sanctuary, road rehabilitation may accelerate transitions to intensified agriculture and diversified, off-farm incomes. All households prefer good roads and poorer households prioritize road development over other village infrastructure. Households perceive the most prominent benefit of roads to be access to hospital. Local government authorities are responsible for controlling land use and conversion within village boundaries and are therefore highly influential in determining the social and environmental outcomes of roads. Strategies to mitigate environmental risks of roads without constraining development benefits must focus on improving local capacity for decision-making and transparency. Local institutions in tropical forest landscapes must have greater control over development benefits if they are to reinvest assets to achieve conservation success.

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“…Project documentation and peer-reviewed literature conclude that VCAs did not generate additional forest conservation. Infrastructure development and smallholder agriculture were the primary drivers of forest-cover loss in the Kerinci-Seblat landscape during and after the VCA project (Linkie et al 2003, Bettinger 2014. An early example in the conservation literature of counterfactual analysis estimated with statistical matching measured forestcover before and during the VCA implementation (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003).…”

Section: The Kerinci-seblat Integrated Conservation and Development P...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impermanence and failure: the legacy of conservation-based payments in Sumatra, Indonesia

Erbaugh

2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Projects that pay communities or individuals to conserve natural areas rarely continue indefinitely. When payments cease, the behaviors they motivate can change. Previous research on conservation-based payments recognizes the impermanence of conservation success, but it does not consider the legacy of payments that failed to effect change. This research assesses impermanence and failure by investigating the legacy of village-level conservation payments made through one of the largest Integrated Conservation and Development Projects. The Kerinci-Seblat Integrated Conservation and Development Project aimed to conserve forest area and promote local development through voluntary conservation agreements (VCAs) that provided payments for pro-conservation pledges and activities from 2000 through 2003. Project documentation and previous research find that payments failed to incentivize additional forest conservation, producing nonsignificant differences in forest-cover change during the project period. To examine the legacy of these payments in the post-project period, this research uses difference-in-differences and triple differences models to analyze forest cover change in villages (n=263) from 2000 through 2016 as well as matched binary logistic regression models to measure enduring differences in household (n=1,303) livelihood strategies within VCA villages in 2016. The analysis finds that VCA villages contained significantly more forest loss than the most similar non-VCA villages outside the national park and greater payments predict increased forest-cover loss in the post-project period. In addition, farming high-value tree crops and cultivating private land were the most important attributes for modeling VCA affiliation among randomly selected households. These results demonstrate payments that fail to motivate conservation risk more than nonsignificant outcomes. This research provides empirical evidence that, after payments ceased, project failures increased in severity over time. Those who design and implement conservation-based payments bear great responsibility to ensure their projects are informed by local voice, align with community preferences, and provide sufficient benefits, lest they result in a conservation legacy of increased failure.

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Death by 1,000 Cuts: Road Politics at Sumatra′s Kerinci Seblat National Park

Cited by 8 publications

References 26 publications

Economic, Socio-Political and Environmental Risks of Road Development in the Tropics

Economic, Socio-Political and Environmental Risks of Road Development in the Tropics

Learning from Local Perceptions for Strategic Road Development in Cambodia’s Protected Forests

Impermanence and failure: the legacy of conservation-based payments in Sumatra, Indonesia

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