Networks and institutions in sustainable forest use: Evidence from South-East Tanzania

Despite growing interest in the impacts of both forest certification and networks in effective natural resource management, there is little literature that brings these two lines of inquiry together. Combining longitudinal remote sensing and village-level forest governance network data, we estimate Cox proportional hazard models predicting the risk of forest loss within 100-square meter forest plots in areas that eventually came under Forest Stewardship Council certification. Our models indicate Forest Stewardship Council certification substantially reduces deforestation, despite that the system is not explicitly designed to do so. While villages with ties to civil society organizations also tend to experience reduced deforestation, those with ties to private sector organizations experience more forest loss. Further, we find that forest loss declines as the share of closed triangles in villages' governance networks increases. Our results indicate network structure may complement Forest Stewardship Council certification's impact on forest cover and account for some reduction in deforestation previously attributed to certification itself.