The Property Rights Index (PRIF) can be used worldwide to compare different forest governance systems.

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101563288 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2045-2322 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20452322 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Sci Rep Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : Nature Publishing Group, copyright 2011-

Ownership* ; Conservation of Natural Resources*; Female ; Male ; Humans ; Forests ; Forestry ; Canada

The bundle of forest landowners' rights largely varies from one jurisdiction to another. On a global scale, the diversity of forest management regime and property rights systems is such that finding comprehensive and standardised approaches for governance analysis purposes is a challenging task. This paper explores the use of the Property Rights Index for Forestry (PRIF) as an analytical tool based on five rights domains (access, withdrawal, management, exclusion, and alienation) to assess how regulatory frameworks impact the owners' forest property rights. We show that PRIF is a reliable index for various governance arrangements, considering its ability to score forest owners' freedom to decide in case studies that range from the Amazon area (Brazil), Misiones province (Argentina) and Quebec (Canada) to community-managed Nepalese and Mexican forests. PRIF scores obtained in these diverse governance arrangements confirm that the governance of forests held by entities other than the state is driven by two factors: the owner's ability to exclude the public from the use of his/her own resource and the owner's freedom to decide on the forest management goals. These factors explained 66.44% of the variance in our sample and should be considered as the main potential drivers while implementing any new international or national policy. Despite having a few limitations, the PRIF is a promising governance indicator and has been proven to perform well for various socioeconomic and legal contexts.
(© 2023. The Author(s).)

PLoS One. 2021 Nov 24;16(11):e0259795. (PMID: 34818374)
Hum Ecol. 1990 Mar;18(1):1-19. (PMID: 12316894)
Environ Manage. 2008 May;41(5):707-18. (PMID: 18288518)
Nat Commun. 2022 Oct 1;13(1):5759. (PMID: 36182932)
For Policy Econ. 2004 Jun;6(3):197-203. (PMID: 32288630)
Environ Manage. 2008 May;41(5):719-33. (PMID: 18288521)
Science. 2020 Jul 17;369(6501):246-248. (PMID: 32675358)
Conserv Biol. 2017 Dec;31(6):1232-1246. (PMID: 28841243)
Soc Indic Res. 2017;130(2):759-777. (PMID: 28163351)
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Nov 15;899:165639. (PMID: 37478951)

Date Created: 20231109 Date Completed: 20231113 Latest Revision: 20231129

20250114

PMC10636150

10.1038/s41598-023-46097-w

37945639