Global Extent of Land Degradation and Its Human Dimension - Principles of Sustainable Soil Management in Agroecosystems - page 216

reflection of the stricter environmental regulations in the region, which has led to
greater forest extent.
Results in East Asia, South Asia, and SSA show a pattern that is contrary to the
EKC. In these regions, GDP has an inverted U relationship with the NDVI, that
is, as GDP increases, the NDVI increases to a certain threshold, beyond which it
decreases. This unexpected result could be due to other factors that are not included
in the model. For example, China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and other countries
in South Asia have implemented reforestation programs, which in turn have con-
tributed to an increasing NDVI as their economies grew (Foster and Rosenzweig
2003; Fang et al. 2001; Murdiyarso et al. 2011; Pender et al. 2008). In SSA, both
NDVI and GDP increased simultaneously in many countries in West and Central
Africa. As argued above, agricultural intensification and diversification in West and
Central Africa could have contributed to this pattern. Government tree-planting
programs, which were implemented to head off flooding, wind storms, and other
disasters attributable to deforestation, also helped to increase forest area (Foster and
Rosenzweig 2003; Fang et al. 2001).
It should also be noted that the predictive power of the forest transition model
has been weakened by globalization and the increased role of international trade.
Hence, we may see increased deforestation or any form of land degradation in one
country, which is due to demand of products in the global market. For example,
Rudel et al. (2009) observed that Brazil deforestation of the Amazon increased with
the GDP well beyond the expected threshold, and this was largely due to the increas-
ing demand for biofuel and meat products in Brazil and for the international market.
In the past 5 years, however, Brazil implemented payment for ecosystem services,
which rewarded soybean producers and ranchers who do not clear the Amazon. The
country also enhanced enforcement of forest regulations at the municipal level.
9.4.4 g overnment e ffectIveneSS
Improvement of government effectiveness is associated with significant increase in
the NDVI across all regions—except East Asia, where the association is not sig-
nificant. This shows the great role played by government effectiveness in addressing
land degradation. The relationship is most significant in SSA, where governance is
the weakest in the world (Kaufmann et al. 2010). These results are consistent with a
priori expectations that a country with effective government is likely to effectively
enforce regulations preventing land degradation—such as deforestation and other
forms of land degradation. For example, weak governance and the attendant high
prevalence of corruption could lead to issuance of illegal forest harvesting conces-
sions, which in turn leads to deforestation (Karsenty and Ongolo 2012).
These results are consistent with the work of Bhatarai and Hammig (2001) who
observed that strength of political institutions and governance significantly reduced
deforestation in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
However, strength of local institutions is key to achieving sustainable land man-
agement. Long-term studies by the International Forest Research Institute (IFRI)
demonstrated that local communities are better managers of forests than central
governments (Ostrom and Nagendra 2006; FAO 2011). A comprehensive review by