A Model of Sustainable Extraction of Nontimber Forest Products in Subsistence Societies

In: Environment and planning. A, Band 27, Heft 10, S. 1667-1676

Abstract

The shrinking forest in many parts of the world is a problem often blamed on the patterns of ownership and harvesting by the resource owners. We develop a model which demonstrates that holding a resource in common where there is competition among individuals leads to inefficient harvesting of the resource but cannot lead to the destruction of forests. The same model is used to demonstrate that climatic conditions, low wage rates, and increases in the number of people entitled to harvest the resource are more-likely candidates for variables explaining the destruction of the forest. Examples taken from the Sudan and from China provide evidence that communities alter their pattern of ownership and migration so that they do not exhaust the resource. The main conclusion of the paper is that the behavior of the owners of the resource is not the underlying cause of the destruction of the forest.