Deforestation and economic growth in Nigeria: empirical analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the economic growth-deforestation nexus with a view to ascertaining the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in Nigeria. The study deployed the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and the Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model. The variables used are net forest depletion (dependent) against real gross domestic product per capita, energy use per capita, agricultural raw materials export and agricultural land (independent). All data used were sourced from the World Development Indicators Data Bank (2019). Findings from the ARDL invalidated an inverted U-shaped EKC both in the short and long run estimations. However, when the analysis was carried out at the level of the NARDL model, the results indicated an inverted U-shaped EKC, suggesting that a nonlinear relationship should be acknowledged between deforestation and economic growth in Nigeria. The key recommendation of this study is that exploitation of forest resources must be consciously managed.