In a recent post I wrote how Vietnam’s stronger land tenure rights have contributed to reforestation in the countryside by giving smallholders a greater stake in maintaining their woodlands, which have economic value. But context is all: Secure property rights is not a cure-all for environmental degradation.  Vietnam has a lot of other things going for it, including a major forest rehabilitation program and a strong state that can enforce compliance with government initiatives. Add a growing economy that is rapidly industrializing and urbanizing, the people of Vietnam can afford to be forward-thinking in the management of their natural resources. These advantages are absent in many countries. In conditions of extreme poverty, life is pretty much hand-to-mouth. Short-term survival takes precedence over long-term planning and stewardship of natural resources. Take the case of El Salvador, where rural poverty and variability of income are a leading cause of tree cover loss in coffee growing areas. Since shade grown coffee sells at a premium, many farmers have sought to maintain trees on their lands for their coffee to be certified as shade grown. But the coffee market is subject to periodic oversupply crises, and when that happens, prices drop so much that even premium beans cannot command enough for poor farmers to meet their basic subsistence needs.  So they clear portions of their land, sell the wood, and plant basic food crops.

The main lesson: small scale subsistence farming is a lose-lose proposition: it perpetuates poverty and degrades the environment. Smallholders cannot afford to be stewards of their environments: between the vagaries of growing conditions and food prices, they can’t count on a stable income year to year, so they have little incentive to forego additional income or food now for better returns later. Larger farms are in a better position to ride out price fluctuations and to maintain the long-term vitality of their land.

(And please don’t suggest subsidies for poor farmers:  https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/agricultural-subsidies-reform-government-support )

Reference:

Allen Blackman, Beatriz Ávalos Sartorio, and Jeffrey Chow (2007) Tree Cover Loss in El Salvador's Shade Coffee Areas RFF Discussion Paper 07-32