We tracked outcomes over 12 months and the results are promising! The benefits after 1 year exceed the subsidy cost (and EPCs lifespan is 5 years). Some details:

1️⃣ Adoption is high (85%) and sustained—measured with of over 1 million electricity transaction data (see the graph).

We worked with Virunga Energies, a private electricity company owned by the park. Together, we provided Electric Pressure Cookers to 1,000 randomly selected households in Goma. EPC are just great for many African cuisines, but they remain accessible to a niche because of their high price.

Hi #econsky and conservation friends, if you need a hopeful story, the RCT we completed in eastern DRC might be for you. It is about a viable path to clean (electric) cooking, human development, and the protection of endangered wildlife, including mountain gorillas 🧵🧪 tinyurl.com/4jccmcaw

Relaying here the recent post by LUCHA, one of the main civil society organization in Goma regarding the horrible situation in Goma. Already 6 days that 2 millions people have no more running water and electriticy. Already 2 days that fights happen in the city. And no internet to hear from friends

The impact is highly heterogeneous: Minimal additionality in remote "high and far" areas, but large in parks facing high pressure (66% decrease in deforestation).

Before CMPs, tree cover loss differences between treated and control PAs were minimal. After CMP creation, deforestation in CMP-managed PAs declined. Each year under a CMP reduces tree cover loss by 56% on average. The effect grew stronger over time.

CMPs are concentrated in central, southern, and eastern Africa but are rare in West Africa. They're often in countries with lower GDP per capita and weaker state functions, targeting areas with critical conservation needs.

Scope: We identified 127 parks with CMPs in 16 countries (full list in our paper and replication package).
The first was Kasanka NP (Zambia) in 1990.
Madagascar is unique: in 2015, the Government established 63 CMPs to establish new PAs (the goal elsewhere: reinforcing existing PAs).

Background: Protected Areas (PAs) are crucial for biodiversity conservation. The first African PA (Virunga NP) turns 100 this year! 🎉 But many studies have shown many PAs fall short over the last decades, partly due to governance challenges and lack of funding.

Did you know? Over 100 parks across 16 African countries are co-managed between states and NGOs! These Collaborative Management Partnerships (CMPs) are ambitious. Our new @pnas.org paper maps CMPs and quantifies their impact on deforestation. A long🧵 doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2411348121

Chat GPT prompt: Based on what you know about me, make an image about what you think my life looks like

Extract: