  Do religions codify ecological principles? This paper explores theoretically
and empirically the role religious beliefs play in shaping environmental
interactions. We study African Traditional Religions (ATR) which place forests
within a sacred sphere. We build a model of non-market interactions of the
mean-field type where the actions of agents with heterogeneous religious
beliefs continuously affect the spatial density of forest cover. The
equilibrium extraction policy shows how individual beliefs and their
distribution among the population can be a key driver of forest conservation.
The model also characterizes the role of resource scarcity in both individual
and population extraction decisions. We test the model predictions empirically
relying on the unique case of Benin, where ATR adherence is freely reported.
Using an instrumental variable strategy that exploits the variation in
proximity to the Benin-Nigerian border, we find that a 1 standard deviation
increase in ATR adherence has a 0.4 standard deviation positive impact on
forest cover change. We study the impact of historically belonging to the
ancient Kingdom of Dahomey, birthplace of the Vodun religion. Using the
original boundaries as a spatial discontinuity, we find positive evidence of
Dahomey affiliation on contemporary forest change. Lastly, we compare observed
forest cover to counterfactual outcomes by simulating the absence of ATR
beliefs across the population.
