Abstract
While addressing the main econometric and methodological shortcomings of the previous cross-country analysis, this paper extends to examine the relationship between rate of deforestation and underlying causes of deforestation across 43 countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia for the period 1971-94. The
underlying causes are confined to forestry, agricultural, demographic and macroeconomic factors. An environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship between rate of deforestation and income is also tested. Results across all regions and based on panel data technique show that forest and allied (non-forest) sector policies and population density increase deforestation, while forest products export promotion policies, export prices and technological progress decrease deforestation. The effects of per capita income, economic growth and agricultural production are found to be varying in different region. An inverted U-shaped EKC empirically fits for Latin America and Africa while a U-shaped EKC does the same for Asia. The overall implication of the results is that the underlying causes leading to deforestation differ somewhat across the regions and therefore there is a need for specific policy recommendation for restraining the deforestation process of different regions.
underlying causes are confined to forestry, agricultural, demographic and macroeconomic factors. An environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship between rate of deforestation and income is also tested. Results across all regions and based on panel data technique show that forest and allied (non-forest) sector policies and population density increase deforestation, while forest products export promotion policies, export prices and technological progress decrease deforestation. The effects of per capita income, economic growth and agricultural production are found to be varying in different region. An inverted U-shaped EKC empirically fits for Latin America and Africa while a U-shaped EKC does the same for Asia. The overall implication of the results is that the underlying causes leading to deforestation differ somewhat across the regions and therefore there is a need for specific policy recommendation for restraining the deforestation process of different regions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the Econometric Society Australasian Meeting (ESAM 2002) |
| Place of Publication | Brisbane QLD, Australia |
| Publisher | Queensland University of Technology |
| Pages | 1-36 |
| Number of pages | 36 |
| Publication status | Published - 07 Jul 2002 |
