Citizen monitoring promotes informed and inclusive forest governance in Liberia

Significance Global forest conservation depends on decisions made in the rural, often poor communities that live next to the Earth’s remaining forests. These decisions often result in rapid deforestation. Coordinated with randomized experiments in five other countries, we evaluate a program that recruits and deploys citizens to monitor communal forestland in Liberia. By informing and mobilizing citizens, the program aims to address two potential governance problems: overuse due to common pool dilemmas and unaccountable leaders profiting from unwanted agribusiness or logging operations. We show that citizen monitoring corrects misconceptions about forest use, broadens participation in rule-making, increases accountability for chiefs (local leaders), and increases material benefits for households. We do not observe a decline in forest use.