Forest Policy Econ. http://doi.org/jqf (2012)

Countries rich in forests have established protected areas to conserve and manage forest resources. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, deforestation has continued despite conservation efforts raising questions about the usefulness of such interventions.

Jon Geir Petursson of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway and colleagues analyse the case of Mount Elgon, straddling the Uganda–Kenya border. With the help of satellite imagery, they found that since 1973 about a third of all forests within the protected areas on Elgon have been cleared in successive processes. Their analysis revealed the existence of complex political and institutional factors inside the formal protected regimes — including insurgencies, state disintegration, human resettlements and associated social conflicts — that acted as drivers of forest loss.

The researchers argue that policies to counter deforestation using a protected-area model can only work if understood in the broader institutional, social and political context, originating both inside and outside the official conservation regimes.