Philippe DELACOTE

Philippe Delacote is a Senior Research Fellow (Directeur de recherche) at INRAE and the Climate Economics Chair. He holds a PhD in Economics from the European University Institute (EUI). Philippe Delacote’s research interests include Environmental Economics and Development Economics, more precisely focusing on the climate-forest-agriculture nexus. His work focuses on the evaluation of forest conservation programs, adaptation to extreme weather events and climate mitigation options in agriculture and forests.

Title of the presentation: Collaborative management partnerships strongly decreased deforestation in the most at-risk protected areas in Africa since 2000

Abstract: Protected areas (PAs) are vital for nature conservation but often fall short in Sub-Saharan Africa due to funding and institutional challenges. Since the 2000s, collaborative management partnerships (CMPs) have emerged to tackle these issues. As of 2023, we identified 127 CMPs across 16 countries. Our counterfactual analysis reveals that tree cover loss, a proxy for habitat protection, was, on average, 55% lower in CMP-managed PAs compared to similar PAs without CMPs over 22 years. In areas with low historical human impacts, CMPs had no effect. However, in areas with high historical anthropogenic disturbance, CMPs decrease tree cover loss by 66%. This shows that PAs can be effective at preserving natural habitats, and that conservation interventions can have highly variable effects.

Email: philippe.delacote@inrae.fr