Forests as pathways to prosperity: Empirical insights and conceptual advances. (January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Miller, Daniel C.; Hajjar, Reem
• Is Part Of: World development. Volume 125(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-01
• Subjects: Sustainable forest management -- Forest conservation -- Forest based livelihoods -- Poverty traps -- Human well-being; Economic history -- 1990- -- Periodicals; Economic assistance -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; 330.9
• DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104647
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-750X

Abstract

Highlights: Major thematic and geographical biases characterize the forest livelihoods literature. Current forest-poverty research concentrates almost exclusively on economic and material dimensions. We develop a conceptual framework for analyzing forests as pathways to prosperity. Wider perspective is needed to account for diverse ways forests contribute to human well-being. Abstract: The role of forests in supporting current consumption and helping people cope with seasonal, climatic, and other stressors is increasingly well understood. But can forests help rural households climb out of poverty? And can forests provide a pathway to prosperity that includes more widely shared economic benefits and improvements in other aspects of human well-being? This introduction to the Special Issue on "Forests as Pathways to Prosperity" reviews the literature on forest livelihoods in developing countries to synthesize evidence relating to these questions. We find that available research primarily examines poverty mitigation aspects of forests rather than the potential role of forest conservation, management, and use in alleviating poverty or promoting broader prosperity. To increase understanding of forest-livelihood relationships we propose a framework based on the concept of prosperity, which draws particular attention to human well-being beyond economic and material dimensions. We argue that explicitly taking a more expansive view can enable better accounting for the diverse ways forests contribute to human welfare, expand the constituency for forests, and inform policies to more sustainably manage forests within wider landscapes. Together, our review and the other articles in this volume advance these objectives by providing new analytical frameworks, empirical insights, and theoretical understanding to build knowledge on linkages between forests, poverty, and broader prosperity.