title: Impacts of Community-Based Natural Resource Management on Wealth, Food Security and Child Health in Tanzania.
abstract: Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is a major global strategy for enhancing conservation outcomes while also seeking to improve rural livelihoods; however, little evidence of socioeconomic outcomes exists. We present a national-level analysis that empirically estimates socioeconomic impacts of CBNRM across Tanzania, while systematically controlling for potential sources of bias. Specifically, we apply a difference-in-differences model to national-scale, cross-sectional data to estimate the impact of three different CBNRM governance regimes on wealth, food security and child health, considering differential impacts of CBNRM on wealthy and poor populations. We also explore whether or not longer-standing CBNRM efforts provide more benefits than recently-established CBNRM areas. Our results show significant improvements in household food security in CBNRM areas compared with non-CBNRM areas, but household wealth and health outcomes in children are generally not significantly different. No one CBNRM governance regime demonstrates consistently different welfare outcomes than the others. Wealthy households benefit more from CBNRM than poor households and CBNRM benefits appear to increase with longer periods of implementation. Perhaps evidence of CBNRM benefits is limited because CBNRM hasn't been around long enough to yield demonstrable outcomes. Nonetheless, achieving demonstrable benefits to rural populations will be crucial for CBNRM's future success in Tanzania.
authors.affiliation: Clark University, Economics Department, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pailler
authors.affiliation: World Wildlife Fund, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Naidoo
authors.affiliation: UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Center, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, The Natural History Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Neil D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Burgess
authors.affiliation: ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins, World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Olivia E
authors.initials: OE
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.affiliation: World Wildlife Fund, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America; Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, United States of America.
authors.forename: Brendan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fisher
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D000067576:Child Health; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003710:Demography; D005523:Food Supply; D065928:Forests; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D005843:Geography; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D000067936:Natural Resources; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D018401:Sample Size; D013636:Tanzania; D013997:Time Factors