Causes and Solutions to Tropical Deforestation:

The Role of Poverty Reduction in Halting Deforestation Effectively

Abstract

Tropical deforestation has become a global environmental issue and a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, efforts to reduce deforestation have been actively promoted worldwide through climate change mitigation schemes. However, results of these efforts have fallen far below initial expectations. Concerns, such as economic damages to local people in the tropics have also been observed. The reason for the disappointing results is proposed to be that the underlying causes of deforestation are not well understood, thereby resulting in the selection of inappropriate strategies. Therefore, this study aimed to clarify the causes of deforestation, show the mechanisms of deforestation's occurrence and control, and propose sustainable solutions based on previous studies from around the world and the author's empirical research in Southeast Asia. The highlights are as follows: 1) the main proximate causes of deforestation are related to increase in agricultural rent (agricultural profitability); 2) poverty is the chief underlying cause of deforestation; 3) deforestation mechanisms can be explained via three factors―agricultural rent, poverty, and forest scarcity; 4) the mainstream of current efforts are strategies to decrease agricultural rent, which can be effective to reduce deforestation, but unsustainable without considering the high costs and social impacts; 5) poverty reduction strategies can be sustainably effective in reducing deforestation; and 6) global efforts to combat deforestation need a shift in focus from agricultural rent reduction strategies to poverty reduction strategies.