Researchers say a pilot program that paid Uganda landowners to not cut down trees, successfully

reduced deforestation. For the program, researchers from Northwestern University and Porticus,
a Dutch organization, studied 121 villages over two years. In 60 villages they offered landowners
$28 a year for every 10,000 square meters of the forest they did not cut down. To collect their
data, the researchers used interviews, site inspections and satellite images to monitor forests
around the villages.
Uganda had one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. It loses about 2.7 percent of
its forest each year between 2005 and 2010. The study, published in the journal “Science,” found
that villages in the payment program had saved 55,000 square meters of forestland more than
other villages. In addition, there was not a rush to cut down trees after the program ended.

However, because the study was small compared to the size of the timber and charcoal markets,
researchers were not able to see its effect on the markets. Without that information, they were not
able to demonstrate that reduced deforestation in the study region didn't lead to increased
deforestation elsewhere.
The Union of Concerned Scientists say deforestation causes about 10% of global carbon
emissions. They say that not cutting down trees is one of the least expensive ways of capturing
carbon. Trees absorb carbon and need it to grow. This helps keep the carbon levels in the air low.
Seema Jayachandran is one of the study leaders from Northwestern. She feels that the program
will be most effective in partnership with others to address the reasons for deforestation. One
example could be helping people in cities get stoves, so they are not cooking with charcoal.
Another idea is to teach farmers how to grow more food in less space, so they don't need to clear
as much forest for land to grow food.

The reading extract elaborates on a successful pilot program to curb deforestation in

Uganda. After two years of research, the organization began by paying landowners an
amount of money as a result of their effort not to cut down trees, with the direct and
indirect inspection via satellite images around the forests. Thanks to the program, a
notable area of undestroyed forestland has been saved. Nevertheless, the study was
conducted on such a small scale that it was unclear as to whether this forest preservation
method made landowners to shift tree-cutting to other lands. Leading experts regard
inhibiting deforestation as the single most cost-efficient approach to reduce carbon
emissions, but added that this program should be carried out in conjunction with
superseding charcoal with stoves and promoting higher yields in less space.