Community-based forest management in Côte d’Ivoire: A theoretical investigation

Abstract

This article investigates the factors that lead to a sustainable management of protected forest by analysing the joint-management policy implemented by forestry authorities through a bio-economic model. A dynamic optimisation technique in continuous time has been used to derive results that explore the policy responses that may stimulate forest conservation. The study shows that joint management improves the level of forest conservation compared to the state management implemented thus far. The results argue that the share of the income from the exploitation of secondary products going to the local community should be at least equal to that resulting from timber exploitation. In particular, forest preservation is better when that share is close to unity, since it constitutes the main incentive of anti-infiltration effort supplied by the local community. However, an absolute increase in the marginal revenue of this secondary activity improves the level of conservation. Finally, the study reveals the need for external funding to account for the public good effect of the forest.

Keywords: anti-infiltration effort, external financial support, joint forest management, local community, protected forest