@Article{WestCavMarSilBör:2022:PoCoGa,
               author = "West, Thales A. P. and Caviglia Harris, Jill L. and Martins, Flora 
                         da Silva Ramos Vieira and Silva, Daniel E. and B{\"o}rner, Jan",
          affiliation = "{VU University Amsterdam} and {Salisbury University} and 
                         {Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto 
                         Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {University of Bonn}",
                title = "Potential conservation gains from improved protected area 
                         management in the Brazilian Amazon",
              journal = "Biological Conservation",
                 year = "2022",
               volume = "269",
                pages = "e109526",
                month = "May",
             keywords = "Amazon, Brazil, Governance, Impact evaluation, Matching, Synthetic 
                         control.",
             abstract = "Protected areas (PAs) are important policy instruments for forest 
                         conservation, but it is unclear if improved management can 
                         increase PA effectiveness. In Brazil, formal management plans are 
                         required to be in place shortly after the creation of a PA. This 
                         requirement is rarely enforced and, as a result, several PAs 
                         undergo many years without approved plans. We take advantage of 
                         this variation among PAs to study the impact of management plans 
                         on deforestation. We provide estimates from two quasi-experimental 
                         evaluation approaches based on the generalization of the 
                         difference-in-differences estimator: (1) matching-based methods 
                         for time-series cross-sectional data analysis and (2) the 
                         generalized synthetic control (GSC) method. We find weak, yet 
                         generally consistent, evidence across these two methods suggesting 
                         that PAs with approved management plans protect forests more 
                         effectively over time. Significant impact estimates from the 
                         matching-based approach ranged more widely than the GSC method 
                         (0.01.",
                 issn = "0006-3207",
             language = "en",
           targetfile = "west_2022_potential.pdf",
        urlaccessdate = "25 jun. 2024"
}