Controlling Tropical Deforestation

Tropical rain forest is being cleared so rapidly and on such a scale that it is a major global environmental problem, threatening the survival of half of the world's plant and animal species and contributing to global climate change through the greenhouse effect. But, despite widespread concern for over twenty years, only limited progress has been made in controlling deforestation and improving forest management in the humid tropics. In this book Alan Grainger offers afresh analysis of the causes of deforestation and presents an integrated strategy for controlling it. His strategy embraces agriculture, forestry and conservation and stresses the need for changes in government policies if land use is to be made more sustainable and the underlying causes of the problem are to be addressed. Controlling Tropical Deforestation is essential reading for policy makers, agronomists, foresters, conservationists and development professionals. To general readers and students on introductory courses at schools and universities it also offers the first concise but comprehensive overview of the causes, scale and consequences of deforestation. Alan Grainger is a lecturer in geography at the University of Leeds. He is author of The Threatening Desert: Controlling Desertification, also published by Earthscan. Originally published in 1992

The Causes of Tropical Deforestation (1994) is an analysis of the problem of deforestation, using statistical technique – a form of ‘environ-metrics’ – to discover the true causes of an issue whose basis is hotly debated, and attributed to causes as varied as poverty, external debt, multinational logging companies, government corruption, the IMF, population growth, and non-sustainable agriculture.

The depletion of the tropical rain forests has attracted considerable attention in recent times, and the serious consequences for the global biosphere are widely acknowledged. Yet deforestation continues apace, and in some areas (for example, southeast Asia) the very existence of the forests is seriously threatened. Contrary to popular belief, evidence suggests that local economic and living conditions are more significant in this than timber exploitation for exports to the Northern countries. Tropical Deforestation - A Socio-Economic Approach offers a new perspective on the economic imperatives which encourage indigenous populations to encroach upon their own forests, and shows how action against deforestation must form part of a wider movement to improve both the living conditions of the local inhabitants and the durability of their national economies. Part 1 offers an overview of the processes surrounding deforestation, and an assessment of the current situation. Part 2 analyses the land-use issues, and explains the socioeconomic imperatives in the affected regions. In an absorbing conclusion. Part 3 guides the reader through a series of hypothetical policy scenarios, using a specially adapted economic computer model, to predict which combinations of policies and trade arrangements might bring about a more beneficial state of affairs.

While many studies of tropical deforestation neglect the indigenous people of the forests, this book illuminates the insights local people have into conservation of their ecosystems, the effects of habitation on those ecosystems, and the impact of development and natural resource depletion on their lives. The book includes coverage of Central and South America, Africa, the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Indian subcontinent.

The Causes of Tropical Deforestation (1994) is an analysis of the problem of deforestation, using statistical technique – a form of ‘environ-metrics’ – to discover the true causes of an issue whose basis is hotly debated, and attributed to causes as varied as poverty, external debt, multinational logging companies, government corruption, the IMF, population growth, and non-sustainable agriculture.

Tropical Deforestation introduces readers to the important concepts for understanding the environmental challenges and consequences of the deforestation. Contributions from scientists and academics in the social sciences and humanities provide readers with an initial 'tool kit' for understanding the concepts central to their disciplinary perspective and the multi-dimensional aspects of deforestation.