Estimation of Participation and welfare impacts of REDD+ community-based pilot projects in Nigeria

Notwithstanding that REDD+ projects, besides reducing carbon emission, must impact on local livelihoods to be adjudged to be successful, evidence regarding welfare impact have been mixed. This study estimates household participation in REDD+, as well as the welfare impacts of REDD+ pilot projects among households in Nigeria.  Data for the study will be collected from 540 households randomly selected from 10 communities that were involved in REDD+ pilot projects (beneficiaries) and ten communities that were not involved (non-beneficiaries) but met the criteria for selection of communities.  Before sampling proportionally, the households will be stratified into male headed and female headed households. Focus group discussion, key informant interviews and questionnaires will be used for data collection. Heckman sample selection model will be used to estimate the participation and extent of participation in terms labour contribution in days or man hour. Endogenous switching regression will be used to estimate the welfare impacts of REDD+ intervention (impacts on income and food security). Propensity score matching (PSM) technique will be used to check for the robustness of the impact estimation. At the end of the study, the level of participation in REDD+ across different gender groups, as well as the welfare impacts of REDD+ intervention will be unraveled to guide policy intervention in future implementations of REDD+ projects.