Decentralization and Forest Degradation in Himalayas

Table 1: Forest Characteristics Mean Standard deviation Forests per village 4.81 1.93 State forests per village 2.57 1.99 Civil Soyam forests per village 0.84 1.66 Van Panchayat forests per village 1.4 1.64 % Broad-leaf species in a forests 64.4 40.47 Aspect* 0.58 0.4 Altitude (meters) 2200.49 301.78 Slope (degree) 32.4 4.95 Distance to village centre (km) 2.21 1.54 Number of villages 83 Number of observations 399 *: Aspect equals 1 if it is most conducive to vegetation growth (from east to north), zero if it is least conducive to growth (south to west) and 0.5 for combinations of the two (SE or NW). Table 2: Descriptive Measures of Forest Degradation Mean % Canopy Cover Basal Area (m2/ha) Basal Volume (m3/ha) 37.79 (11.11) 46.79 (24.61) 904.59 (867.49) 65.39 (13.17) % Lopped Regeneration rate (number of 440.75 saplings above (317.42) 0.5m/ha) Collection 3.89 Time (hours) (1.23) Number of Observations: 399. Median 37.5 41.31 671.58 67.11 383.33 4 Proportion degraded forest* 100 47.12 na 99 100 na *:Degradation thresholds: Canopy cover below 80%, Basal area below 40 m2/ha, Lopping above 30%, Regeneration rate below 2000/ha. Table 3: Correlation coefficients between the measures of forest quality. % Canopy Cover Basal Area (m2/ha) Basal Volume (m3/ha) % Lopped Regeneration (number of saplings above 0.5m/ha) Collection Time (hours) Canopy Cover 1.00 0.32 Basal Basal Area Volume Collection Lopping Regeneration Time 1.00 0.25 0.90 1.00 -0.59 -0.21 -0.16 1.00 0.04 -0.12 -0.23 -0.10 1.00 0.06 0.13 0.09 -0.02 0.05 1.00 Table 4: Characteristics of Forests by Forest Status Demarcated protected forests Canopy cover (%) Basal area (m2/ha) Basal Volume (m3/ha) % Lopped Regeneration rate (saplings above 0.5m/ha.) Collection Time (hours) % Broad leaf trees Aspect Slope (degrees) Altitude (m) Distance from the village center (kms) Number of forests* Civil Soyam forests Van panchayat forests Mean (stand. dev.) 39.4 (10.6) 52.4 (26.4) 1162.5 (1011.9) 65.4 (12.7) 386.5 (316.2) 4.1 (1.3) Mean (stand. dev.) 34.6 (11.2) 37.8 (20.3) 502.3 (514.5) 68.4 (13.8) 486.4 (357.2) 3.6 (1.0) Mean (stand. dev.) 36.8 (11.6) 41.9 (20.8) 673.7 (580.9) 63.6 (13.5) 512.8 (275.4) 3.6 (1.2) 50.02 (41.5) 0.59 (0.50) 33.6 (4.9) 2224.9 (322.0) 2.71 (1.7) 213 (178) 85.6 (27.9) 0.60 (0.50) 30.7 (5.1) 2119.7 (273.9) 1.7 (0.9) 70 (64) 78.0 (34.5) 0.60 (0.5) 31.1 (4.4) 2204.3 (272.0) 1.6 (1.1) 116 (104) * Parentheses: number of forests for which collection time is available Table 5: Forest Quality OLS regressions: Pooled Sample Canopy cover Dummy van panchayat -1.47 forest (1.31) Dummy civil soyam forest -2.78* (1.60) Distance to the forest 1.08*** (.34) Percentage Broad-leaf 0.01 (.01) Aspect 2.04 (1.44) Altitude .01*** (.00) Slope 0.00 (.11) Population density per ha -0.28 (2.05) Square of population density 0.35 (.55) Hours to jeepable road -0.77 (1.17) Hours square to jeepable 0.05 road (.22) Number of observations 399 Number of Villages 83 R-squared 0.12 Basal area -3.65 (2.68) -5.79* (3.03) 2.76*** (.98) -.13*** (.02) 7.74*** (2.55) .03*** (.00) -0.19 (.24) -1.92 (4.36) 0.81 (1.20) 5.62** (2.43) -0.76 (.46) 399 83 0.28 Basal Collection Volume Lopping Regeneration time -115.81 -4.16*** 60.71 0.03 (85.67) (1.60) (37.06) (.14) -168.02** -0.08 27.48 0.03 (79.39) (2.05) (50.04) (.14) 95.38*** -.97* 0.63 .58*** (32.91) (.50) (9.45) (.06) -9.27*** .05*** 2.23*** 0.00 (.93) (.01) (.40) (.00) 220.91*** -0.30 83.15** 0.12 (75.81) (1.62) (36.43) (.13) .73*** -.004* -.10* 0.00 (.19) (.00) (.05) (.00) -5.50 0.03 -0.43 0.01 (7.29) (.15) (3.48) (.01) 4.87 -1.99 8.07 0.11 (170.12) (2.57) (59.25) (.20) 17.17 0.16 -0.96 -0.08 (53.46) (.74) (16.97) (.04) 219.68*** 0.01 -25.98 0.21 (78.20) (1.43) (32.00) (.13) -35.63** (14.74) 399 83 0.38 Parentheses: robust standard errors, clustered at village level ***, **, *: significant at 1,5,10% respectively -0.06 (.27) 399 83 0.06 -0.90 (6.38) 399 83 0.13 -0.03 (.02) 346 83 0.39 Table 6: Forest Quality regressions with Village Fixed Effects Canopy cover Dummy van panchayat 3.01 forest (2.55) Dummy civil soyam forest -1.99 (1.96) Distance to the forest .99* (.53) Percentage Broad-leaf 0.03 (.02) Aspect 2.65 (1.61) Altitude 0.00 (.00) Slope 0.12 (.17) Number of observations 399 Number of Villages 83 R-squared 0.09 Basal area 0.63 (4.05) -5.01 (3.58) 3.44*** (1.12) -.21*** (.04) 7.26*** (2.66) .03*** (.01) -0.01 (.40) 399 83 0.24 Basal Collection Volume Lopping Regeneration time 53.90 -10.17*** -30.15 -.40* (126.71) (2.77) (57.31) (.21) -10.45 -2.89 -36.35 -.37** (94.42) (2.66) (49.81) (.18) 112.38*** -1.23* -15.20 .50*** (33.00) (.72) (12.28) (.08) -11.21*** .07** .71* 0.00 (1.44) (.03) (.42) (.00) 231.94*** -1.00 114.33** -0.10 (87.22) (2.47) (50.09) (.16) .87** -.01** .25** 0.00 (.42) (.00) (.10) (.00) 0.69 -0.23 10.29* 0.02 (11.32) (.22) (6.08) (.02) 399 399 399 346 83 83 83 83 0.28 0.09 0.08 0.43 Parentheses: robust standard errors, clustered at village level ***, **, *: significant at 1,5,10% respectively Table 7: Conditional Village Fixed Effect Logit for Likelihood of being a Van Panchayat forest Van Panchayat dummy Percentage Broad-leaf .01** (.01) Aspect 0.45 (.74) Slope -0.005 (.05) Altitude -0.001 (.00) Distance to the forest -.67*** (.17) Number of observations# 184 Number of Villages& 35 Pseudo R-square 0.22 #: Observations located in villages with both VP and Non-VP forests coexisting & Number of Villages with both VP and Non-VP forests coexisting Parentheses: robust standard errors, clustered at village level ***, **, *: significant at 1,5,10% respectively Table 8: Forest Quality Regressions with Village Fixed Effects, with Controls for Composition of Neighbouring Forests Canopy cover Dummy van panchayat 5.27 forest (3.42) Dummy civil soyam forest 3.21 (3.60) Distance to the forest .92* (.51) Percentage Broad-leaf .04* (.02) Aspect 2.55 (1.60) Altitude 0.00 (.00) Slope 0.15 (.14) Basal Collection Basal area Volume Lopping Regeneration time -4.14 -18.09 -13.18*** 20.92 -0.19 (4.32) (133.98) (3.98) (81.11) (.24) 0.96 69.39 -9.17* 172.03* -0.33 (6.39) (146.65) (4.73) (100.46) (.28) 3.48*** 111.00*** -1.09 -13.34 .48*** (1.10) (33.61) (.69) (11.81) (.08) -.20*** -11.11*** .06* .87* 0.00 (.04) (1.46) (.03) (.45) (.00) 7.08** 227.48** -0.82 113.94** -0.10 (2.70) (88.12) (2.45) (50.09) (.15) .03*** .87** -.01* .26** 0.00 (.01) (.41) (.01) (.11) (.00) 0.07 1.76 -0.26 11.97** 0.02 (.35) (11.16) (.17 ) (4.63) (.02) Competing Van Panchayat forest area (ha) 0.00 (.02) -.06** (.03) -1.17 (.94) 0.01 (.03) 0.27 (.40) 0.00 (.00) Competing State protected forest area (ha) -.04* (.02) 0.03 (.04) 0.14 (1.20) .06** (.03) -0.61 (.57) -.005** (.00) Competing Civil Soyam 0.15 0.33 3.56 -0.14 8.64* -0.01 forest area (ha) (.15) (.28) (5.42) (.20) (4.98) (.01) Number of observations 399 399 399 399 399 346 Number of Villages 83 83 83 83 83 83 R-squared 0.11 0.25 0.29 0.11 0.12 0.45 Parentheses: robust standard errors, clustered at village level; ***, **, *: significant at 1,5,10% respectively Table 9: Distribution of Year of Starting of Van Panchayats After 2000 1990s 1980s 1970s Before 1970 Number 4 6 3 7 25 Percentage (%) 9 13 7 16 56 Total 45 100 Table 10: Forest Quality Regressions with Village Fixed Effects, and Separate Effect of Old and New Van Panchayats Canopy cover 0.06 New Van Panchayat (2.86) 9.35** Old Van Panchayat (4.30) Dummy civil soyam forest 3.68 (3.50) Distance to the forest 1.04** (.48) Percentage Broad-leaf .04* (.02) Aspect 2.38 (1.53) Altitude 0.00 (.00) Slope 0.14 (.14) Basal area -12.56** (5.68) 2.47 (5.24) 1.72 (6.39) 3.67*** (1.11) -.20*** (.04) 6.82** (2.64) .03*** (.01) 0.05 (.35) Basal Collection Volume Lopping Regeneration time -288.75 -6.70* -8.34 -0.12 (227.27) (3.55) (66.83) (.23) 194.33 -18.26*** 43.89 -0.25 (141.72) (4.56) (116.12) (.30) 93.80 -9.76** 174.67* -0.34 (151.65) (4.58) (100.90) (.28) 117.25*** -1.24* -12.67 .47*** (33.45) (.65) (11.88) (.08) -11.15*** .06* .86* 0.00 (1.44) (.03) (.45) (.00) 218.97** -0.61 113.02** -0.09 (87.14) (2.36) (50.78) (.15) .81** -0.01 .26** 0.00 (.39) (.01) (.11) (.00) 1.09 -0.25 11.90** 0.02 (11.01) (.17) (4.60) (.02) Competing Van Panchayat forest area (ha) 0.01 (.02) -0.04 (.03) -0.65 (.81) 0.00 (.03) 0.33 (.48) 0.00 (.00) Competing State protected forest area (ha) -.04* (.02) 0.03 (.04) 0.19 (1.23) .06** (.03) -0.60 (.56) -.004** (.00) Competing Civil Soyam 0.14 0.32 3.36 forest area (ha) (.15) (.28) (5.50) Number of observations 399 399 399 Number of Villages 83 83 83 R-squared 0.13 0.26 0.30 Note: robust standard errors, clustered at village level ***, **, *: significant at 1,5,10% respectively -0.14 (.20) 399 83 0.13 8.61* (5.02) 399 83 0.12 -0.01 (.01) 346 83 0.45