Deforestation mechanisms: a survey

Tropical deforestation continues at a very alarming rate. Certain forms of deforestation are economically desirable, but economic criteria alone are not sufficient for deciding whether a deforestation project is desirable. Previous studies on deforestation mechanisms are grouped into four general categories, i.e. Neo‐Malthusian, government‐failure, microeconomic and macroeconomic approaches. The Neo‐Malthusian approach sees population pressure as the underlying cause of tropical deforestation. The government‐failure approach looks at misdirected policies that result in unintended deforestation and government’s inability to preclude preventable deforestation. The microeconomic approach examines how, under various forms of market failure, an agent’s economic behaviours can lead to deforestation. The macroeconomic approach explores the possible links between debt and deforestation. We also present micro‐level evidence of a case where deforestation can be associated with farmers’ capital accumulation behaviour, and poverty is a deterrent to, not a cause of, deforestation.