What works in tropical forest conservation, and what does not: Effectiveness of four strategies in terms of environmental, social, and economic outcomes

Background

Tropical forests play a vital role in supporting livelihoods, storing carbon, and preserving much of the world’s biodiversity. Despite their importance, human activities continue to threaten them at an alarming rate. To protect these ecosystems, conservationists must identify the most effective strategies, but several challenges make this difficult. Complex socio-economic systems, imperfect implementation of conservation measures, limited funding, and the difficulty of conducting rigorous experiments all hinder progress. Additionally, practitioners often struggle to access scientific research, forcing them to rely on anecdotal evidence rather than data-driven solutions.

Goals and Methods

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of four major tropical forest conservation strategies—forest certification and reduced-impact logging (FSC-RIL), payments for ecosystem services (PES), protected areas (PAs), and community forest management (CFM)—by assessing their environmental, social, and economic outcomes. To achieve this, the researchers systematically reviewed existing literature, searching Google Scholar for studies on these strategies. They screened the first 1,000 search results for each strategy and extracted data from relevant peer-reviewed articles and technical reports that met their inclusion criteria. The extracted data included the type of conservation strategy, the measured outcomes (environmental, social, or economic), the outcome’s direction (positive, neutral, or negative), and the study’s methodology.

Conclusions and Takeaways

This research demonstrates that no single conservation strategy works universally. Each of the four strategies has produced both successes and failures across environmental, social, and economic outcomes. The study also highlights a significant gap in rigorous research, particularly regarding conservation efforts' impact on biodiversity. To improve future conservation strategies, the authors recommend incorporating systematic reviews, considering negative evidence, using geographically relevant studies, and analyzing specific outcomes across different strategies to prevent repeating past mistakes. To support this process, they developed an interactive platform that helps practitioners navigate conservation evidence more effectively. The platform allows users to filter evidence by country, outcome type, and study quality. Designed to be dynamic, it also enables researchers to update and expand its database over time.