Rights Interactions of Forest Tenure and Carbon Sequestration in China

Although forest tenure devolution has been widely implemented, limited research has examined the carbon sequestration effects of property rights, particularly the interactions among rights within the tenure bundle. This research quantifies the structure of forest tenure at the village level over a 20-year period (2000–2019) and links it with village-year satellite observations of forest carbon sequestration. Using two-way fixed effects regression, interaction effect models, and mediation analysis, the research examines the carbon responses to devolved forest tenure, with particular attention to the interactions among tenure rights and the heterogeneity across forest types. Empirical results indicate that the logging right constitutes the core component of the tenure bundle that promotes carbon sequestration in mature forests and shrublands. When the logging right was completely absent, the impact of ownership on carbon sequestration became insignificant. Tenure rights bundles interact significantly in shaping carbon sequestration outcomes in mature forests. Specifically, longer tenure duration reinforces the effects of ownership and logging rights, whereas transferability tends to substitute for their returns. In terms of young plantations, only official certification of ownership would promote their carbon sequestration and there are no interaction impacts between rights. Further analyses combining farmer behavior find that the reduction in logging intensity, rather than frequency, is a significant channel for logging rights to promote carbon sequestration of mature stands. Ownership increases the frequency but the intensity of afforestation/reforestation, which in turn increases carbon sequestration of young plantations.