Incentivizing an End to Deforestation

Deforestation – a significant percentage of which occurs at the hands of smallholder farmers in developing countries – is one of the leading sources of global greenhouse gas emissions. This project seeks to reduce deforestation by smallholders by providing direct payments to farmers for conserving forest assets and using information- and market-based approaches to improve smallholder farmer livelihoods that improve upon similar, traditional schemes.

The researchers will demonstrate the efficacy of these approaches by deploying pilot studies and field experiments in collaboration with partners in Uganda and Indonesia. They aim to demonstrate that carefully designed incentive schemes can use funding efficiently to achieve higher environmental outcomes while improving smallholder livelihood.