Publications — Conservation economics lab

Working papers

Jaimovich, Dany, Felipe Jordán, Matías Black, and Robert Heilmayr, “Environmental Impacts of Indigenous Land Restitution in Chile.” doi:10.2139/ssrn.5406046

Walker, Kendra, Atahualpa Ayala, Lauren Sharwood, and Robert Heilmayr. “Improving Smallholder Representation in Crop Maps.” doi:10.2139/ssrn.5237621.

Jordán, Felipe, and Robert Heilmayr. “Who benefits from individual rights over indigenous lands? Evidence from the Mapuche.” Latest version.

Stigler, Matthieu, Janina Grabbs, Robert Heilmayr, Kimberly Carlson, Adelina Chandra, Jason Jon Benedict, and Rachael Garrett. “Zero-Deforestation Commitments in Indonesia’s Palm Oil Sector Achieve High Compliance but No Additionality.” In review – available upon request.

Garcia, Alberto, and Robert Heilmayr. “Chilean payments for forest restoration achieved greater environmental impacts when directed toward economically disadvantaged groups.” In review – available upon request.

Heilmayr, Robert, Jason Jon Benedict, David Gaveau, Brian Orland, Hilman Afif, Christopher Barr, Adrià Descals, Husnayaen, Age Kridalaksan, Timer Manurung, and Grahat Nagara. “Indonesia’s Pulp Sector Risks Reversing Progress towards Zero Deforestation.” In review – available upon request.

Peer reviewed journal articles

Lathuillière, Michael J., Toby A. Gardner, U. Martin Persson, Vivian Ribeiro, Robert Heilmayr, Florence Pendrill, and Patrick Meyfroidt. “Complementary Perspectives and Metrics Are Essential to End Deforestation.” Conservation Letters 18(5).

Dudney, Joan, Laura E. Dee, Robert Heilmayr, Jarrett Byrnes, and Katherine Siegel. 2025. “A Causal Inference Framework for Climate Change Attribution in Ecology.” Ecology Letters 28(8): e70192.

Ekaputri, Andini D., David L. A. Gaveau, Robert Heilmayr, Carlson, Kimberly M. Carlson, 2025. Uneven participation of independent and contract smallholders in certified palm oil mill markets in Indonesia. Communications Earth and Environment 6, 721.

McInturff, Alex, Peter S. Alagona, Scott D. Cooper, Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, Sarah E. Anderson, Elizabeth S. Forbes, Robert Heilmayr, Elizabeth H.T. Hiroyasu, Bruce E. Kendall, Alexis M. Mychajliw, Molly Hardesty-Moore. 2025. “Triangulating Habitat Suitability for the Locally Extirpated California Grizzly Bear.” Biological Conservation 303: 110989.

Michael Eggen, Robert Heilmayr, Patrick Anderson, Rebecca Armson, Kemen Austin, Reza Azmi, Peter Bayliss, David Burns, J. T. Erbaugh, Andini Desita Ekaputri, David L. A. Gaveau, Janina Grabs, Aida Greenbury, Ibrahim Gulagnar, Mansuetus Alsy Hanu, Tony Hill, Marieke Leegwater, Godwin Limberg, Charlotte Opal, Violace Putri, Judy Rodrigues, Grant Rosoman, Musnanda Satar, Su Sin Sheun, Rukaiyah Rafik, Sarah Walen, Kimberly M. Carlson. 2024. “Smallholder Participation in Zero-Deforestation Supply Chain Initiatives in the Indonesian Palm Oil Sector: Challenges, Opportunities, and Limitations.” Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 12 (1): 00099.

Chandra, Adelina, Rachael D. Garrett, Kimberly M. Carlson, Robert Heilmayr, Matthieu Stigler, Jason J. Benedict, and Janina Grabs. 2024. “How Well Does the Implementation of Corporate Zero-Deforestation Commitments in Indonesia Align with Aims to Halt Deforestation and Include Smallholders?” Environmental Research Letters 19 (4): 044054.

Marx, Axel, Charline Depoorter, Santiago Fernandez de Cordoba, Rupal Verma, Mercedes Araoz, Graeme Auld, Janne Bemelmans, Elizabeth A. Bennett, Eva Boonaert, Clara Brandi, Thomas Dietz, Eve Fouilleux, Janina Grabs, Lars H. Gulbrandsen, James Harrison, Robert Heilmayr, Ariel Hernandez, Bernard Hoekman, Siti Rubiah Lambert, Eric Lambin, Li Li, Miet Maertens, Paulo Mortara Batistic, Etsuyo Michida, Junji Nakagawa, Archna Negi, Jorge A. Pérez-Pineda, Stefano Ponte, Ximena Rueda, Philip Schleifer, Vera Thorstensen, Hamish van der Ven. 2024. “Global Governance through Voluntary Sustainability Standards: Developments, Trends and Challenges.” Global Policy 15 (4): 708–28.

Ribeiro, Vivian, Flavia De Souza Mendes, Chandrakant Singh, and Robert Heilmayr. 2024. “Leveraging Remote Sensing for Transparency and Accountability in Amazonian Commodity Supply Chains.” One Earth 7 (11): 1935–40.

Garcia, Alberto, and Robert Heilmayr. 2024. “Impact Evaluation with Nonrepeatable Outcomes: The Case of Forest Conservation.” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 125 (May):102971.

Kraus, Sebastian, Robert Heilmayr and Nicolas Koch. 2024. “Spillovers to Manufacturing Plants from Multi-Million Dollar Plantations: Evidence from the Indonesian Palm Oil Boom.” Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.

Pendrill, Florence, Toby Gardner, Patrick Meyfroidt, U. Martin Persson, Justin Adams, Tasso Azevedo, Mairon G. Bastos Lima, Matthias Baumann, Philip G. Curtis, Veronique De Sy, Rachael Garrett, Javier Godar, Elizabeth Dow Goldman, Matthew C. Hansen, Robert Heilmayr, Martin Herold, Tobias Kuemmerle, Michael J. Lathuillière, Vivian Ribeiro, Alexandra Tyukavina, Mikaela J. Weisse, Chris West. 2022. “Demystifying the numbers behind agriculture-driven tropical deforestation.” Science. 337 (6611).

zu Ermgassen, Erasmus K.H.J., Mairon G. Bastos Lima, Helen Bellfield, Adeline Dontenville, Toby Gardner, Javier Godar, Robert Heilmayr, Rosa A. Indenbaum, Tiago N.P. dos Reis, Vivian Ribeiro, Patrick Meyfroidt. 2022. “Addressing indirect sourcing in zero deforestation supply chains.” Science Advances 8, no.17.

Austin, Kemen G., Robert Heilmayr, Jason Jon Benedict, David N. Burns, Kimberly M. Carlson, Michael Eggen, Hedley Grantham, Aida Greenbury, Jane K. Hill, Clinton N. Jenkins, Matthew S. Luskin, Timer Manurung, Laura V. Rasmussen, Grant Rosoman, Bernardo Rudorff, Musnanda Satar, Kimberly M. Carlson. 2021. “Mapping and monitoring zero-deforestation commitments.” Bioscience 71, no. 10: 1079-1090.

Heilmayr, Robert, Lisa L. Rausch, Jacob Munger, and Holly K. Gibbs. 2020. “Brazil’s Amazon Soy Moratorium reduced deforestation,” Nature Food 1, no. 12: 801–10.

Lee, Janice Ser Huay, Daniela A. Miteva, Kimberly M. Carlson, Robert Heilmayr, and Omar Saif. 2020. “Does Oil Palm Certification Create Trade-Offs between Environment and Development in Indonesia?” Environmental Research Letters 15, no. 12.

Haya, Barbara, Danny Cullenward, Aaron L. Strong, Emily Grubert, Robert Heilmayr, Deborah A. Sivas, and Michael Wara. “Managing Uncertainty in Carbon Offsets: Insights from California’s Standardized Approach.” Climate Policy 20, no. 9 (October 20, 2020): 1112–26.

Heilmayr, Robert, Cristian Echeverría, and Eric F. Lambin. “Impacts of Chilean Forest Subsidies on Forest Extent, Carbon and Biodiversity,” Nature Sustainability 3, no. 9 (September 2020): 701–9.

Forbes, Elizabeth S., Peter S. Alagona, Andrea J. Adams, Sarah E. Anderson, Kevin C. Brown, Jolie Colby, Scott D. Cooper, Sean Denny, Elizabeth H.T. Hiroyasu, Robert Heilmayr, Bruce E. Kendall, Jennifer A. Martin, Molly Hardesty-Moore, Alexis M. Mychajliw, Brian P. Tyrrell, and Zoë S. Welch. “Analogies for a No-Analog World: Tackling Uncertainties in Species Reintroductions.” Trends in Ecology & Evolution 35, no. 7 (July 1, 2020): 551–54.

Heilmayr, Robert, Jason Jon Benedict, and Kimberly M. Carlson. “Deforestation Spillovers from Oil Palm Sustainability Certification.” Environmental Research Letters 15, no. 7 (June 2020): 075002.

Scriven, Sarah A., Kimberly M. Carlson, Jenny A. Hodgson, Colin J. McClean, Robert Heilmayr, Jennifer M. Lucey, and Jane K. Hill. “Testing the Benefits of Conservation Set-Asides for Improved Habitat Connectivity in Tropical Agricultural Landscapes.” Journal of Applied Ecology 56, no. 10 (2019): 2274–85.

Garrett, Rachael D., Sam Levy, Kimberly M. Carlson, Toby A. Gardner, Javier Godar, Jennifer Clapp, Peter Dauvergne, Robert Heilmayr, Yann le Polain de Waroux, Ben Ayre Robin Barr, Barbro Døvre, Holly K. Gibbs, Simon Hall, Sarah Lake, Jeffrey C. Milder, Lisa L. Rausch, Rodrigo Rivero, Ximena Rueda, Ryan Sarsfield, Britaldo Soares-Filho, Nelson Villoria. “Criteria for Effective Zero-Deforestation Commitments.” Global Environmental Change 54 (January 1, 2019).

Dudney, Joan, Richard J. Hobbs, Robert Heilmayr, John J. Battles, and Katharine N. Suding. “Navigating Novelty and Risk in Resilience Management.” Trends in Ecology & Evolution 33, no. 11 (November 1, 2018): 863–73.

Hamann, Maike, Kevin Berry, Tomas Chaigneau, Tracie Curry, Robert Heilmayr, Patrik J.G. Henriksson, Jonas Hentati-Sundberg, Amir Jina, Emilie Lindkvist, Yolanda Lopez-Maldonado, Emmi Nieminen, Matías Piaggio, Jiangxiao Qui, Juan C. Rocha, Caroline Schill, Alon Shepon, Andrew R. Tilman, Inge van den Bijgaart, Tong Wu. 2018. “Inequality and the Biosphere.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 43 (1).

Lambin, Eric F., Holly K. Gibbs, Robert Heilmayr, Kimberly M. Carlson, Leonardo Fleck, Rachael D. Garrett, Yann le Polain de Waroux; Constance McDermott, David McLaughlin, Peter Newton, Christoph Nolte, Charlotte Streck, Tannis Thorlakson, Nathalie F Walker. 2018. “The Role of Supply-Chain Initiatives in Reducing Deforestation.” Nature Climate Change 8 (2): 109.

Carlson, Kimberly M.*, Robert Heilmayr*, Holly K. Gibbs, Praveen Noojipady, David N. Burns, Douglas C. Morton, Nathalie F. Walker, Gary D. Paoli, and Claire Kremen. 2018. “Effect of Oil Palm Sustainability Certification on Deforestation and Fire in Indonesia.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115 (1): 121–26.

Heilmayr, Robert, Cristian Echeverría, Rodrigo Fuentes, and Eric F. Lambin. 2016. “A Plantation-Dominated Forest Transition in Chile.” Applied Geography 75 (October): 71–82. 2016.

Waroux, Yann Le Polain de; Rachael D. Garrett, Robert Heilmayr, Eric F. Lambin. 2016. “Land-use policies and corporate investments in agriculture in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113 (15): 4021–26.

Heilmayr, Robert; Eric F. Lambin. 2016. “Impacts of non-state, market-driven governance on Chilean forests,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (11): 2910-15.

Heilmayr, Robert. 2014. “Conservation through Intensification? The Effects of Plantations on Natural Forests.” Ecological Economics 105: 204–10.

Heilmayr, Robert; James Bradbury. 2011. “Effective, efficient or equitable: using allowance allocations to mitigate emissions leakage.” Climate Policy 11 (4): 1113-1130.

Books

Houser, Trevor; Bradley, Rob; Childs, Britt; Werksman, Jake; Heilmayr, Robert. Leveling the Carbon Playing Field: International Competition and U.S. Climate Policy Design, Peterson Institute for International Economics and World Resources Institute, 2008.

Other peer reviewed publications

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Changes in Impacts of Climate Extremes: Human Systems and Ecosystems” in Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation, 2012.

Seligsohn, Deborah; Heilmayr, Robert; Tan, Xiaomei; Weischer, Lutz. “China, the United States, and the Climate Change Challenge.” World Resources Institute, 2009.

Grubb, Michael; Brewer, Thomas; Sato, Misato; Heilmayr, Robert; Fazekas, Dora. “Climate Policy and Industrial Competitiveness: Ten Insights from Europe on the EU Emissions Trading System.” German Marshall Fund, 2009.

Larsen, John; Heilmayr, Robert. “Emissions Reductions under the American Clean Energy and Security Act.” World Resources Institute, 2009.

Houser, Trevor; Mohan, Shashank; Heilmayr, Robert. “A Green Global Recovery? Assessing U.S. Economic Stimulus and Prospects for International Coordination.” Peterson Institute for International Economics and World Resources Institute, 2009.

Larsen, John; Heilmayr, Robert. “A Comparison of Legislative Climate Change Targets in the 110th Congress.” World Resources Institute, 2008.

Mace, MJ et al. “Analysis of the legal and organisational issues arising in linking the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to other existing and emerging emissions trading schemes.” FIELD, IIEE and WRI, 2008.