Eric F. Lambin’s research while affiliated with Stanford University and other places

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Publications (333)


Location of the selected case studies with their key characteristics
Outcomes according to the type of governance system for natural resource management (median, standard deviation, and min–max values)
Distribution of codes for factors according to the outcome of the intervention
Association of each factor with the outcome of interventions in terms of the average of the mean decrease accuracy of 10,000 simulations of Random Forest. The factors “policy implementation” and “importance, relevance” were not included as they have the same value for all cases
Incentives and disincentives explicitly identified in the cases as present or missing

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Reversing degradation of social–ecological systems: explaining the outcomes of interventions in Africa
  • Article
  • Full-text available

October 2024

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122 Reads

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Eric F. Lambin

Social–ecological systems need to become more sustainable, especially in places undergoing rapid land degradation. The challenge is to reverse the depletion of natural resources while improving human well-being. This is especially critical in Africa where rural populations are often highly dependent on natural resources. Since the 1980s, several territories in Africa have initiated changes to reverse land degradation. This study aims at drawing lessons from these experiences. We identified seventeen cases of African territories that have engaged in sustainability interventions, either restoration or rehabilitation initiatives, with varying degrees of success. The key factors—grouped as information of key actors, their motivation to change practices, and their capacity to do so—that are recognized as potential success factors or obstacles for interventions towards sustainable resource use were analysed. Results highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance of factors over the long term. Managing sustainability transitions in low-income contexts requires integrating poverty-related concerns, mitigating the risks inherent to any change in practices, creating incentives for participation by all actors, and strengthening coalitions over the long term between actors around a sustainability agenda.

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Interventions to control forest loss in a swidden cultivation landscape in Nan Province, Thailand

August 2024

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51 Reads

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4 Citations

Regional Environmental Change

In tropical forest regions, swidden cultivation landscapes are experiencing land use transitions due to factors such as the introduction of cash crops, land tenure conflicts, and land use zoning for conservation. In northern Thailand, Nan Province, the introduction of maize as a cash crop in a landscape previously dominated by swidden cultivation has caused rapid forest loss. In the past decade, several land use interventions by government and non-government organizations were aimed at reducing forest loss and sustaining livelihoods of local communities. We analyzed how much of the recent forest loss was caused by new forest conversion versus a transition from swidden to permanent cultivation, and how effective are the recent land use interventions at conserving forests. We used classified Landsat images from 2000 to 2019 to understand land cover transitions and a matching technique based on the synthetic control method to evaluate the impact of project interventions on forest loss. We found that 20% of the land cover has undergone changes of which 41% were due to loss of forest, and 31% to swidden cultivation. Out of 55 villages with a land use intervention, only 3 have reduced forest loss as compared to their synthetic controls. Most of the villages with an intervention have similar rates of forest loss than their synthetic controls. Therefore, current land use projects have not yet contributed towards reduction in forest loss. Interviews with project leaders reveal that long-term funding, cooperation with local communities, and training and support of farmers to market new crops are key for successful interventions.


Fig. 1. The number of competing land claims on declared properties in the Brazilian Legal Amazon from the 2021 CAR (n = 846,420 registrations). Panels provide a closer look at two regions of interest with known land conflicts. (A) the Transamazon highway (BR-27) and BR-319 corridors in southern Amazonas (AM) and (B) conflicts between small farms and super properties in the municipality of Almeirim along the border between Pará (PA) and Amapá (AP). Purple lines indicate highways.
Fig. 2. Marginal effects plots for statistically significant fixed terms related to land tenure and accessibility in a Poisson generalized linear mixed-effects model of the number of property overlaps in the 2021 CAR. Effects are plotted by landholder size classes as defined by number of "fiscal modules" (mf): 1) small (< 4 mf), 2) medium (4 to 15 mf), and 3) large (>15 mf). In panels A-C, we plot the predicted number of property overlaps for discrete predictors, where points are means and bars are 95% CI. For continuous predictors in panels D-I, we plot the model predicted number of property overlaps as a function of continuous predictors, where lines are model-predicted marginal means and shaded regions are 95% CI. SI Appendix, Tables S4-S7 for model coefficients and SI Appendix, Fig. S6 for fixed and random effects plots.
Fig 3. The outcome of landholder response hypothesis testing from Chi-square analysis at the municipality level (n = 437). Municipalities with more legal reserve declared in overlaps (green) indicate that landholders are avoiding land conflicts, whereas municipalities with more deforestation in overlaps (orange) indicate that landholders are clearing land in response to conflicts. In municipalities shaded red, both landholder response behaviors are prevalent in overlaps, putting environmental regularization at risk. Municipalities where Chi-square analyses were not significantly different from the null expectation are shown in light green.
Land conflicts from overlapping claims in Brazil's rural environmental registry

August 2024

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117 Reads

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1 Citation

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Paul R Furumo

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Jevan Yu

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Eric F Lambin

Satellite-based land use monitoring and farm-level traceability offer opportunities for targeted zero-deforestation interventions on private lands. Brazil’s Rural Environmental Registry (Cadastro Ambiental Rural, or “CAR”), a land cadaster based on self-declaration of property boundaries, was created to monitor compliance with national forest laws. It has become an important enabling measure for sustainable supply chain initiatives like the Amazon Soy Moratorium. However, CAR enrollment is increasingly used to bolster illegal land claims, putting it at the heart of land grabbing dynamics. Self-declaration of properties in the CAR offers a unique situation to study land conflicts and their impact on land use decisions on a large scale. We quantified competing land claims among 846,420 registrations in the Brazilian Legal Amazon and applied a series of generalized linear mixed-effects models. We determined that CAR overlaps are more prevalent on larger registrations, in more densely settled areas, and in areas with less secure land tenure. We tested how landholders respond to land conflicts, finding significantly more deforestation and declared legal forest reserve on lands with multiple claims. CAR overlap results in an overestimation of forest reserves by up to 9.7 million hectares when considering double-counted and deforested areas of reserves, highlighting an overlooked form of Forest Code noncompliance. While the CAR continues to be used as evidence of land tenure, we conclude that the formalization of land claims through self-declarations is inadequate to decrease conflicts. CAR overlap information provides objective evidence of land conflict that authorities can leverage with field inspection to ensure peaceful occupation before issuing land titles.


Global governance through voluntary sustainability standards: Developments, trends and challenges

June 2024

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45 Reads

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3 Citations

Global Policy

Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) are transnational governance instruments that can be leveraged to pursue sustainable development in global value chains. They have proliferated since the 1990s in terms of their number and the share of global production they govern. This paper shares some key insights arising from the considerable body of literature that has analysed the role of these instruments for sustainable production and trade. First, it introduces VSS, traces the evolution of their adoption and takes stock of the research on their sustainability impacts. Next, some major developments in the VSS realm are discussed, related to public policy and the emergence of national sustainability standards. The paper then zooms in on the challenges and limitations of VSS in transforming value chains towards sustainability, focusing on the shortcomings related to inclusiveness and the problems arising from their proliferation. The paper concludes by distilling recommendations on overcoming these challenges, especially in light of recent policy developments, and outlines what different stakeholders can do to make VSS more effective and inclusive instruments for sustainable value chains.


Estimated changes in labour time investment for specific cocoa production tasks in 2021 compared to pre-COVID-19 times for the full farmer sample and the subsamples with and without increased household labour availability; statistical comparison of the response option ‘Increased’ between the two subsamples using a Fisher’s exact test
The role of household labour for sustainable intensification in smallholder systems: a case study in cocoa farming systems

May 2024

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84 Reads

Regional Environmental Change

Sustainable agricultural intensification aims at increasing yields on existing agricultural land without negative environmental impacts. Managing pests and diseases contributes to increasing yields. Without synthetic pesticides, this management is labour intensive. Smallholder farming systems heavily rely on manual and household labour, which will be affected by future demographic changes. Knowledge on how these changes will affect sustainable intensification is limited. Based on a case study of Ugandan cocoa farms, we tested the impact of increased household labour availability on pest and disease management (PDM) practices and pesticide use. We made use of a unique quasi-experimental design, in which household labour increased during the national COVID-19 lockdowns as children did not attend school and family members returned from cities. Our interview data from 2019 to 2021 showed that household labour availability increased on average by 0.8 (±2.5) household members and 16% of labour days per hectare. Using different regression models complemented with qualitative insights, we found that the uptake of alternative PDM practices significantly reduced pesticide quantities and expenditures. The implementation of alternative PDM practices was only weakly influenced by household labour availability and increased with farmer training and trust in alternative practices. These results imply that alternative PDM practices are an important pillar for production with little or without synthetic pesticides and their adoption requires support and incentives, especially on labour or resource-constrained farms. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10113-024-02243-2.


of the proposed relations between land systems and vector-borne disease ecology.
Location of three case studies and summary of land system dimensions.
Land system governance shapes tick-related public and animal health risks

April 2024

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122 Reads

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1 Citation

Land cover and land use have established effects on hazard and exposure to vector-borne diseases. While our understanding of the proximate and distant causes and consequences of land use decisions has evolved, the focus on the proximate effects of landscape on disease ecology remains dominant. We argue that land use governance, viewed through a land system lens, affects tick-borne disease risk. Governance affects land use trajectories and potentially shapes landscapes favourable to ticks or increases contact with ticks by structuring human-land interactions. We illustrate the role of land use legacies, trade-offs in land-use decisions, and social inequities in access to land resources, information and decision-making, with three cases: Kyasanur Forest disease in India, Lyme disease in the Outer Hebrides (Scotland), and tick acaricide resistance in cattle in Ecuador. Land use governance is key to managing the risk of tick-borne diseases, by affecting the hazard and exposure. We propose that land use governance should consider unintended consequences on infectious disease risk.


Fig. 1. There is almost no agreement in how 16,150 households are ranked based on their PPI scores, DHS scores, and regular expenditures per capita across three sub-Saharan African countries. Spearman's correlation coefficients with bootstrapped confidence intervals (n = 1,000 runs) are displayed for country and district strata in panel (A), for rural and urban sub-samples in panel (B), for country and district strata among the bottom quintile (based on households' DHS scores) in panel (C), and for rural and urban sub-samples among the bottom quintile (based on households' DHS scores) in panel (D). Sample sizes for the strata in panels (A) and (B) range from 872 to 16,150 households. Sample sizes for the strata in panels (C) and (D) range from 175 to 3,230 households. See SI Appendix, Supplementary Text for a complete breakdown of sample sizes by stratum. A factor of (−1) is applied to parameters related to the PPI to increase interpretability.
Fig. 3. Households' rankings, as determined by the four poverty measurement approaches, differ by an entire quartile on average. The distributions of the differences in household rankings are displayed for each pairwise comparison. The first row of graphs features comparisons made among rural households in each district: Dera (n = 2,477), Farta (n = 2,470), North Mecha (n = 2,520), Asutifi North (n = 1,146), Wassa East (n = 1,918), Kabarole (n = 1,353), and Lira (n = 1,354). The second row of graphs features comparisons made among urban households in each district: Dera (n = 461), Farta (n = 288), North Mecha (n = 414), Asutifi North (n = 655), Wassa East (n = 217), Kabarole (n = 519), and Lira (n = 358).
How poverty is measured impacts who gets classified as impoverished

February 2024

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74 Reads

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3 Citations

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

We test whether the classification of households into poverty categories is meaningfully influenced by the poverty measurement approach that is employed. These classification techniques are widely used by governments, non-profit organizations, and development agencies for policy design and implementation. Using primary data collected in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Uganda, we find almost no agreement in how four commonly used approaches rank 16,150 households in terms of poverty status. This result holds for each country, for urban and rural households, and across the entire socio-economic distribution. Households’ poverty rankings differ by an entire quartile on average. Conclusions about progress toward poverty alleviation goals may depend in large part on how poverty is measured.




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Implementation of sustainable farming practices by cocoa farmers in Ecuador and Uganda: the influence of value chain factors

July 2023

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570 Reads

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5 Citations

A key strategy of chocolate manufacturers is the promotion of sustainable farming practices amongst their supplying cocoa producers. A growing body of micro-economic literature has analysed factors influencing the adoption of such practices, yet broadly disregarded value chain factors. Information on how factors within single value chains increase the adoption of sustainable farming practices can help direct chocolate companies’ investments and increase return of investments in sustainability. The objective of this study was to understand: (a) how important value chain factors are, relative to farmer and farm factors, for cocoa farmers’ implementation of sustainable farming practices and (b) through which mechanisms value chain factors influence sustainable farming practices implementation. By integrating the practice adoption with sustainable supply chain management literature, we contribute to closing an important research gap. We collected data from 394 cocoa farmers in Ecuador and Uganda and analysed the determinants of implementation sustainable farming practices, testing quantitatively whether value chain factors with variation within single value chains are significantly associated with practice implementation. These factors included information factors (farmers’ access to training; advisory service through the value chain) and structural factors (value chain organisation and persistence; farmers’ dependency on this value chain). We selected 11 sustainable farming practices or indicators across three sustainability dimensions, i.e., environmental, social, and economic. We found that value chain factors are comparable to farmer and farm factors in explaining the implementation of sustainable farming practices across dimensions. Both capacity building and stable relationships were significantly related with the implementation of certain sustainable farming practices. Yet these results were weaker than expected, indicating that their potential was not fully exploited within our case study value chains. Through their value chain sustainability initiatives, chocolate companies should disseminate knowledge, address inhibitors to sustainable farming practices implementation beyond knowledge, and align sustainability goals with all value chain actors.


Citations (88)


... Standard-setting bodies can be divided into two categories: public bodies, such as the EU, which can develop mandatory standards; and private bodies, which typically establish voluntary standards, including certification schemes and eco-labels (Marx et al., 2024). Within these standard-setting bodies, standardization usually involves specific stakeholders, such as industry insiders, scientists, or government representatives, who are considered to have a high level of expertise in the field (Timmermans and Epstein, 2010). ...

Reference:

The standardization of biodiversity: how politicization changes standardization for corporate sustainability reporting
Global governance through voluntary sustainability standards: Developments, trends and challenges
  • Citing Article
  • June 2024

Global Policy

... Over the last several decades, expansion of monoplantations in the moist/tropical forests in South/Southeast Asia has now attracted attention due to forest loss and degradation, decline in productivity and biodiversity, and other environmental impacts Pradeep et al., 2020;Septyadi et al., 2023;Parida et al., 2023;Swarada et al., 2024;Agarwal & Lambin, 2024). Tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze) is a perennial evergreen bush, an economically important crop and a popular beverage grown in many parts of the world (Li et al., 2011;Pramanik & Phukan, 2020;Parida et al., 2023). ...

Interventions to control forest loss in a swidden cultivation landscape in Nan Province, Thailand

Regional Environmental Change

... Additionally, there is high uncertainty in the magnitude and sign of the future tropical forest carbon balance because of the uncertain ecophysiological response of tropical forests to climate change Hubau et al., 2020;Lloyd & Farquhar, 1996) and because it is unclear if deforestation rates will continue to decline in the coming years to decades (FAO, 2022;Feng et al., 2022). Accountability for land management in the tropics is imperative not only at national governance levels (Obermeier et al., 2024), but also among individual landholders, consortiums, and communities (Furumo et al., 2024). Communities manage at least 22% of tropical forest land carbon stocks and occupy about 50% of tropical terrestrial lands, owning up to 11% of it; thus, carbon storage and sequestration goals will rely on the participation of local land stewards (Frechette et al., 2018 Figures S3 and S4), variability in ΔC among models (represented as standard error) is homoscedastic across anthromes in the tropics and the temperate and boreal zone ( Figure S7). ...

Land conflicts from overlapping claims in Brazil's rural environmental registry

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

... Rising temperatures (climate change), land management, and acaricide resistance are possible drivers of the spread of ticks into new territories or increased tick populations (Nuttall, 2022;Vanwambeke et al., 2024). These ticks may carry new pathogens and represent a financial burden to the public health system and veterinary public health system. ...

Land system governance shapes tick-related public and animal health risks

... evidence suggests that the PMt method performs relatively well compared to other regression analyses when applied to groups close to the national poverty line; however, it imposes challenges when the method is applied to more diverse and impoverished sectors, groups, or regions (Skoufias et al., 2020). given the trade-offs between simplicity of use and accuracy when applying PMt methods, some authors argue the need to include different measures (Pu et al., 2024) or combine several targeting mechanisms (Nasri et al., 2024;Stoeffler et al., 2020). this paper contributes to the discussion on the PMt method's suitability. ...

How poverty is measured impacts who gets classified as impoverished

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

... They show that to reverse deforestation, constrain the expansion of agro-commodity production into High Conservation Value (HCV) forest areas, and achieve other sustainability impacts, policy interventions need to be multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral, enforced, and operate at at least the landscape level, which not only aligns with JA designs, but could inform evaluations. Similarly, using agent-based (or actor) modelling of land use governance interventions in tropical commodity frontiers, Von Essen and Lambin (2023 show that collaborative, multi-stakeholder subnational interventions (involving the state, private sector and civil society) have the greatest impact on deforestation, among a number of examined interventions, via providing 'the best balance between effectiveness and equity'. While the aforementioned studies rely on significant assumptions or scenario building, they can nonetheless provide further information for policy makers comparing different interventions and potential impacts. ...

Modeling conditions for effective and equitable land use governance in tropical forest frontiers
  • Citing Article
  • November 2023

One Earth

... The tradeoffs of different farming practices and different diets must also be further explored to fully understand their impacts on wider ecosystem services. For example, the meat and dairy industry holds significant social, economic and cultural power [64], yet much of its conventional practice will also need to be challenged and downscaled or modified if society is to move towards genuinely regenerative futures [65][66][67]. The issue is also not straightforward: while there is a growing social movement to reduce meat consumption, integrating livestock is one of the main principles of the regenerative agriculture movement, with farmyard manures key to adding carbon back into the soil and thus helping to restore soil health [17,18,68], and claims that livestock in some regenerative farming systems are carbon-negative [68]. ...

Public policies and vested interests preserve the animal farming status quo at the expense of animal product analogs

One Earth

... Unlike previous studies that broadly examine agricultural economics or climate change, this research delves into sector-specific dynamics and value chain mechanisms, providing insights into sustainability and competitiveness. Value chain improvements, such as certification schemes and sustainable farming practices, have been shown to enhance sector performance and resilience [49] (Tennhardt et al., 2023). These factors are critical in addressing external shocks such as price volatility and in improving the long-term competitiveness of Côte d'Ivoire's cocoa industry. ...

Implementation of sustainable farming practices by cocoa farmers in Ecuador and Uganda: the influence of value chain factors

... Monitoring and transparency of supply chains have been a consistent challenge to SCG across commodities (Lambin et al 2018, Garrett et al 2019, Lambin and Furumo 2023. Blind spots caused by low coverage of signatory buyers and lack of monitoring throughout the supply chain have allowed leakage (Alix-Garcia and Gibbs 2017, Heilmayr et al 2020a, in which deforestation or other non-desirable behavior is simply taken up by non-monitored portions of the supply chain. ...

Deforestation-Free Commodity Supply Chains: Myth or Reality?
  • Citing Article
  • April 2023

Annual Review of Environment and Resources

... In conclusion, this research has provided important theoretical and practical insights by exploring the unique dynamics within the context of Ghana and their influence on the emergence of a REDD+ CGR. It contributes to the wider literature on collaborative natural resource management and underscores the significance of contextual variables in determining the success of collaboration (e.g., Bodin 2017;Cockburn et al. 2020;Dressel et al. 2020;Emerson and Nabatchi 2015;Swette et al. 2023;Zachrisson and Beland Lindahl 2013). While the GCFRP represents a significant step forward in the development of REDD+ CGRs, uncertainty remains about whether these approaches will ultimately improve outcomes for both communities and the environment, especially in Ghana's developing contexts. ...

Collaboration in a polarized context: lessons from public forest governance in the American West

Ecology and Society