Analysis of forest certification uptake

Background and Objective

The goal of the project is to examine across countries those factors that are assumed in the scientific literature to have an influence on the extent of certified forest area.

Target Group

 Policy, Science

Approach

A panel data model is constructed to empirically clarify the research question. With the help of this model one can make statements about the relationship between certified forest area and appropriate economic and institutional explanatory variables.

Data and Methods

The data are taken from publicly available databases (e.g. FAO, World Bank) and the literature.

Our Research Questions

-Is there any evidence on why forest certification uptake varies around the world?

Are there country-specific factors associated with the extent of certified forest area?

Preliminary Results

The preliminary results show that a number of factors are significantly associated with the prevalence of forest certification. These include, for example, the level of economic development, the export propensity of the forest sector, the level of activity of environmental non-governmental organizations, and the institutional set-up of the country.