{"title":"Does improved tenure security reduce fires? Evidence from the Greece land registry","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.jeem.2024.103002","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>While tenure security is essential to effective land management, there is little empirical evidence on its environmental impact. Exploiting the staggered rollout of the land registry program across Greece, we find the regions covered by the mandatory program witness large declines in agricultural fire events, burned areas, and air pollutants. Agricultural data reveal that landowners in those regions mitigate fire risks through reducing stubble burning, expanding farming areas, and stocking more fire-suppression equipment. Our findings indicate that strengthening property rights can lead to more sustainable farming practices and promote long-term land investment, thereby reducing fire hazards.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15763,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Environmental Economics and Management","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069624000767","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
While tenure security is essential to effective land management, there is little empirical evidence on its environmental impact. Exploiting the staggered rollout of the land registry program across Greece, we find the regions covered by the mandatory program witness large declines in agricultural fire events, burned areas, and air pollutants. Agricultural data reveal that landowners in those regions mitigate fire risks through reducing stubble burning, expanding farming areas, and stocking more fire-suppression equipment. Our findings indicate that strengthening property rights can lead to more sustainable farming practices and promote long-term land investment, thereby reducing fire hazards.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Environmental Economics and Management publishes theoretical and empirical papers devoted to specific natural resources and environmental issues. For consideration, papers should (1) contain a substantial element embodying the linkage between economic systems and environmental and natural resources systems or (2) be of substantial importance in understanding the management and/or social control of the economy in its relations with the natural environment. Although the general orientation of the journal is toward economics, interdisciplinary papers by researchers in other fields of interest to resource and environmental economists will be welcomed.