Agricultural Expansion and Tropical Deforestation

There is no clear-cut causal relationship between international trade agricultural expansion and tropical deforestation. Academics policy-makers and the public are all tempted by simplistic solutions to complex problems. In order to establish the true causal factors involved in this critical area of environmental decline the authors of this study present case studies ranging over three continents. Utilizing statistics it is shown that the focus of analysis of deforestation must be applied as much to the misguided policies of national and regional authorities as to the forces of trade and globalization. Further it demonstrates that we must adopt a critical perspective on the historical context of human use of forest areas looking at issues such as systems of land tenure. The primary aim of the book is to highlight the need to seek solutions in far-reaching institutional and policy reforms adapted to specific socio-economic and ecological contexts if the problem of tropical deforestation is to be tackled effectively.