Agricultural Expansion and Tropical Deforestation: Poverty, International Trade and Land Use

Abstract

In search of the causal factors involved in tropical deforestation, this book conducts a multidisciplinary analysis of economic and agricultural development and thier impact on increasing land use pressure and change. Case studies from five countries (Brazil, Cameroon, China, Guatemala, Malyasia) are used to explore the dynamics of tropical deforestation in specific socioeconomic, political and ecological contexts. The study argues that deforestation is an outcome of policies pused by diverse social actors within interacting social and ecological systems at local, national and international levels. It shows that agricultural expansion and international trade are important factors, but that their roles are varied and frequently contradictory. Their impact on livelihoods and tropical deforestation depends largely on the contexts in which they occur. The book puts the case for the need to seek solutions in far-reaching institutional and policy reforms if the real challenges of tropical deforestation are to be tackled effectively.