Migration, Remittances and Forests : Disentangling the Impact of Population and Economic Growth on Forests

Tiwari, Sailesh ; Bhattarai, Keshav

关键词: ABSOLUTE VALUE;    ADULT POPULATION;    ADVERSE WEATHER;    AFFORESTATION;    AGRICULTURAL COMMUNITIES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5907
RP-ID  :  WPS5907

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

International migration has increasedrapidly in recent decades and this has been accompanied by aremarkable increase in transfers made by migrants to theirhome countries. This paper investigates the effect of therural economic growth brought about by migration andremittances on Nepal's Himalayan forests. The authorsassemble a unique village-panel dataset combining remotesensing data on land use and forest cover change with datafrom the census and multiple rounds of living standardssurveys to test various inter-relationships betweenpopulation, economic growth and forests. The results suggestthat rural economic growth spurred by remittances has had anoverall positive impact on forests. The paper also findsthat remittances caused an increase in rural wages and anincrease in income, but a decrease in land prices.Considered together, however, the relationship betweenforests and remittances is driven largely through the incomechannel, indicating that the demand for amenities providedby forests in the rural Nepali setting may have been moreimportant than factor prices in influencing land use changesfor the period of the study.