Recognizing the Equity Implications of Restoration Priority Maps

Abstract

A growing number of studies develop maps to prioritize conservation and restoration interventions around the world. These maps often highlight the benefits of concentrating such interventions in the tropics. However, the equity implications of using such priority maps to guide global policy are less often explored and articulated. We highlight those equity issues by examining a widely publicized restoration priority map as an illustrative case. First, we calculate the proportion of agricultural land in countries around the world that this map classifies as a top 15% restoration priority. A regression analysis shows that this map prioritizes restoration in countries where displacing agriculture would likely be most destrimental to livelihoods. Second, we show through a second regression analysis that a similar pattern appears subnationally within the tropics. In other words, equity concerns persist at a subnational scale even after putting aside comparitons between the tropics and the Global North.

Bill Schultz

I’m a social scientist interested in the effectiveness of environmental interventions, the equity implications of environmental policy, and the ways policy researchers use statistics to draw conclusions about the world. I specialize in analysis through R, Stata, and various geospatial software.