“Protectionism”? Natural Resource Dependence and Protected Area Designation

• In Event: Climate Change and International Collaboration

Abstract

Biodiversity and ecosystem loss is one of the gravest transnational crises facing the planet, with deep implications for climate change. What determines how different countries choose to protect nature? Previous work has argued that economic dependence on natural resources undermines green policies. Building on literature that examines the impact of democracy on environmental policy, I argue that the relationship between resource dependence and protection is mediated by democratic institutions. In more democratic countries, more natural resource dependence can cause more protection than in less dependent countries, because citizens and international groups witness more degradation and ecosystem loss in these contexts and make effective demands for protection in response. To test this argument, I employ a novel panel regression discontinuity design at country borders for all terrestrial country-border pairs from 1992 to 2020, using new geospatial data on protected area (PA) designation over time. This design leverages the geographic nature of PAs to test for the causal influence of national-level political-economic dynamics while accounting for characteristics of land that make it inherently more or less likely to be protected. I find that the effect of natural resource dependence is conditional: when democratic institutions are weaker, the effect of natural resources is negative for protection. When democracy is stronger, the effect of natural resources is positive. These findings reveal an important relationship between environmental degradation and protection.

Author

• Austin Beacham, Georgia Insitute of Technology