Democracy and income inequality moderate the impacts of protected areas
- 1Florida State University
- 2Brandeis University
- 3Montana Technological University
Abstract
Many policymakers and conservation activists promote creating terrestrial protected areas (PAs) as a central tool to preserve biodiversity and offset global carbon emissions. However, the socioeconomic consequences of PA designation remain understudied. Using an event study design, this paper estimates the causal treatment effect of creating PAs on changes in cultivated agriculture land from within PA boundaries. We examine the global population of 64,997 terrestrial protected areas established 1995-2020 and evaluate temporal changes in land classified as agriculture cultivation in 5-year intervals. We find that protected areas (modestly) reduce the amount cultivation within their boundaries. Then, using data on country-level income inequality and democratic institutions we estimate the treatment effect of creating PAs in countries that are less democratic and have more income inequality. We find that PAs located in places with more income inequality and less democracy significantly reduce cultivation, at a much greater rate than in countries that score higher on democracy and have less income inequality. These findings highlight the critical role of socioeconomic and political context in shaping the outcomes of protected area policies. Conservation policy in nondemocratic and high economic inequality countries must create appropriate safeguards for local people.
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BibTeX
@article{coleman2026democracy,
title = {{Democracy and income inequality moderate the impacts of protected areas}},
author = {Eric A Coleman and Prakash Kashwan and M. Aynal Haque},
journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/aeb4ca},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aeb4ca},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Democracy and income inequality moderate the impacts of protected areas
AU - Eric A Coleman
AU - Prakash Kashwan
AU - M. Aynal Haque
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
JO - Environmental Research Letters
DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/aeb4ca
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aeb4ca
AB - Many policymakers and conservation activists promote creating terrestrial protected areas (PAs) as a central tool to preserve biodiversity and offset global carbon emissions. However, the socioeconomic consequences of PA designation remain understudied. Using an event study design, this paper estimates the causal treatment effect of creating PAs on changes in cultivated agriculture land from within PA boundaries. We examine the global population of 64,997 terrestrial protected areas established 1995-2020 and evaluate temporal changes in land classified as agriculture cultivation in 5-year intervals. We find that protected areas (modestly) reduce the amount cultivation within their boundaries. Then, using data on country-level income inequality and democratic institutions we estimate the treatment effect of creating PAs in countries that are less democratic and have more income inequality. We find that PAs located in places with more income inequality and less democracy significantly reduce cultivation, at a much greater rate than in countries that score higher on democracy and have less income inequality. These findings highlight the critical role of socioeconomic and political context in shaping the outcomes of protected area policies. Conservation policy in nondemocratic and high economic inequality countries must create appropriate safeguards for local people.
SN - 1748-9326
ER -