Improving rural health care reduces illegal logging and conserves carbon in a tropical forest
Isabel J. Jones, Andrew MacDonald, Skylar Hopkins, Andrea J. Lund, Zac Yung-Chun Liu, Nurul Ihsan Fawzi, Mahardika Putra Purba, Katie Fankhauser, Andrew J. Chamberlin, Monica Nirmala, Arthur G. Blundell, Ashley Emerson, Jonathan Jennings, Lynne Gaffikin, Michèle Barry, David López‐Carr, Kinari Webb, Giulio A. De Leo, Susanne H. Sokolow
Abstract
= 0.038). Concurrently, the intervention provided health care access to more than 28,400 unique patients, with clinic usage and patient visitation frequency highest in communities participating in the intervention. Finally, we observed a dose-response in forest change rate to intervention engagement (person-contacts with intervention activities) across communities bordering the park: The greatest logging reductions were adjacent to the most highly engaged villages. Results suggest that this community-derived solution simultaneously improved health care access for local and indigenous communities and sustainably conserved carbon stocks in a protected tropical forest.