Forestry and Governance as Two Pillars of Sustainable Development: Empirical Verification

Purpose: One of the most common global concerns is Sustainable development for last three decades. For it, good governance of forestry can play a significant role. Accordingly, current paper empirically analyzes their relationship. Design/Methodology/Approach: An index of Sustainable development is built. Then the data of forest area and governance indicator for period 2005-2019 for 128 countries, is subjected to estimation. In regression analysis, system generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) is used for dynamic panel data specification, which can cater the issue of endogeneity in micro panels. Additionally, sample is bifurcated into developed countries and developing countries for segregated estimates. Findings: Empirical results reveal positive effect of forestry and effective governance on sustainable development index. Implications/Originality/Value: Recommendations include improving the governance practices and adoption of contemporary forms of forest management.