'Traditional authority' linked to rates of deforestation in Africa

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/uoc-al112415.php

Public Release: 24-Nov-2015
'Traditional authority' linked to rates of deforestation in Africa
University of Cambridge

The first study to link precolonial African leadership and current levels of deforestation has shown a strong correlation between areas with historic leadership structures more susceptible to corruption and higher rates of forest loss today.

The study suggests that a "legal pluralism" exists across large parts of Africa where many local leaders continue to hold sway over natural resources through precolonial "traditional authority"; old power often not recognised by the state.

By using satellite image data from 2000 to 2012 and analysing it in combination with historical anthropological data, researchers found a relationship between high deforestation and precolonial succession rules of 'social standing': village heads appointed through wealth or status rather than for example hereditary lineage or democratic election.

Those areas with 'social standing' leaderships in precolonial times have approximately 50% more deforestation than the average rate of forest loss for Africa over this period.

Leaders who draw on traditional authority are often vested with resource control rights by local communities, regardless of whether the state recognises these rights. The study's authors say that those local leaders who can claim power through their own influence - or 'social standing' - are more likely to use natural resources to leverage short-term economic gains.

The research team, from the University of Cambridge's Department of Land Economy and its Centre for Development Studies, cite cases of loggers providing gifts such as motorcycles and paying traditional leaders to secure 'logging permits', despite the leaders having no state authority to grant them.

They say the findings suggest that conservationists need to go beyond state law and engage with local leaders who, despite having no apparent authority, may have a vital influence over Africa's shrinking forests and biodiversity. The study has been published in the Journal of Land Use Policy.

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