War and deforestation in Sierra Leone
The impact of armed conflict on the environment is of major public policy importance. We use a geographically disaggregated dataset of civil war violence together with satellite imagery of land cover to test whether war facilitated or prevented forest loss in Sierra Leone. The conflict data set allo...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/9/095014 |
| _version_ | 1827871401774678016 |
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| author | Robin Burgess Edward Miguel Charlotte Stanton |
| author_facet | Robin Burgess Edward Miguel Charlotte Stanton |
| author_sort | Robin Burgess |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The impact of armed conflict on the environment is of major public policy importance. We use a geographically disaggregated dataset of civil war violence together with satellite imagery of land cover to test whether war facilitated or prevented forest loss in Sierra Leone. The conflict data set allows us to establish where rebel groups were stationed and where battles and attacks occurred. The satellite data enables to us to monitor the change in forest cover (total, primary, and secondary) in all of Sierra Leone’s 151 chiefdoms, between 1990 (prior to the war) and 2000 (just prior to its end). The results suggest that conflict in Sierra Leone acted as a brake on local deforestation: conflict-ridden areas experienced significantly less forest loss relative to their more conflict-free counterparts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:09:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dd8f85a571c14b969f2fd3fd8933a2ae |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:09:58Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-dd8f85a571c14b969f2fd3fd8933a2ae2023-08-09T14:12:39ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262015-01-0110909501410.1088/1748-9326/10/9/095014War and deforestation in Sierra LeoneRobin Burgess0Edward Miguel1Charlotte Stanton2Department of Economics, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A f, UKDepartment of Economics, University of California , Berkeley, Evans Hall 508-1, Berkeley, CA 94720-3880, USAEmmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, Stanford University , 473 Via Ortega, Suite 226, Stanford, CA 94305, USAThe impact of armed conflict on the environment is of major public policy importance. We use a geographically disaggregated dataset of civil war violence together with satellite imagery of land cover to test whether war facilitated or prevented forest loss in Sierra Leone. The conflict data set allows us to establish where rebel groups were stationed and where battles and attacks occurred. The satellite data enables to us to monitor the change in forest cover (total, primary, and secondary) in all of Sierra Leone’s 151 chiefdoms, between 1990 (prior to the war) and 2000 (just prior to its end). The results suggest that conflict in Sierra Leone acted as a brake on local deforestation: conflict-ridden areas experienced significantly less forest loss relative to their more conflict-free counterparts.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/9/095014deforestationcivil warSierra Leone |
| spellingShingle | Robin Burgess Edward Miguel Charlotte Stanton War and deforestation in Sierra Leone Environmental Research Letters deforestation civil war Sierra Leone |
| title | War and deforestation in Sierra Leone |
| title_full | War and deforestation in Sierra Leone |
| title_fullStr | War and deforestation in Sierra Leone |
| title_full_unstemmed | War and deforestation in Sierra Leone |
| title_short | War and deforestation in Sierra Leone |
| title_sort | war and deforestation in sierra leone |
| topic | deforestation civil war Sierra Leone |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/9/095014 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT robinburgess waranddeforestationinsierraleone AT edwardmiguel waranddeforestationinsierraleone AT charlottestanton waranddeforestationinsierraleone |