Tropical deforestation and land use change

IØR

Team: Arild Angelsen (leader), Ronnie Babigumira Collaborators: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR); World Bank; Humboldt University, Berlin (Daniel Müller) Countries: Indonesia, Uganda, global Funding: Own time, CIFOR, World Bank, PhD quota scholarship

This project represents a long term research interest of the principal researcher (Angelsen). Forest conversion to agriculture (deforestation) is studied by the use of agricultural household models, and then linking land users’ decision parameters (prices, technologies, etc.) to broader socio-economic and political factors.

Early work included a study from Indonesia (Angelsen 1995) and more general studies on the causes of tropical deforestation (Angelsen 1999). Following a review of “Economic models of deforestation” in 1998, which has become one of the most cited works on deforestation, a comparative project looked at the impact of better agricultural technologies on deforestation. This was published as an edited volume in 2001 (Angelsen and Kaimowitz 2001), and also resulted in some more specific articles (e.g., Angelsen and Kaimowitz 2004).

Current work focuses on the forest transition (Rudel et al. 2005), and linking that with the von Thünen model and systematic shifts in agricultural and forest rents, as done in a recent World Bank background paper (Angelsen 2006).

Future work will involve comparative studies on how the forest transition is operating in different parts of the tropics.

Work in Uganda is done as part of the PhD theses of Ronnie Babigumira. The first paper from this effort combines spatial GIS and socio-economic census data to investigate the causes of deforestation in Western Uganda in the period 1990-2000 (Babigumira et al. 2006). Another will look at the effectiveness of conservation areas to halt deforestation.

Key publications:
Babigumira, Ronnie, Daniel Müller, and Arild Angelsen. 2006. Drivers of deforestation in Uganda, 1990-2000. Manuscript.

Angelsen, Arild. 2006. Forest cover change in space and time: Combining the von Thünen and forest transition theories. World Bank Policy Working Paper.

Thomas K. Rudel, Oliver T. Coomes, Emilio Moran, Frederic Achard, Arild Angelsen, Jianchu Xu, Eric Lambin. 2005. Forest transitions: towards a global understanding of land use change. Global Environmental Change 15: 23-31.

Angelsen, Arild and David Kaimowitz. 2004. Is agroforestry likely to reduce deforestation? In: Schroth, G., Fonseca, G.A.B., Harvey, C.A., Gascon, C.,Vasconcelos, H.L. and Izac, A.M.N. (eds.): Agroforestry and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Landscapes. Island Press, Washington, D.C., pp. 87-106.

Angelsen, Arild. 2001. Playing Games in the Forest: State - Local Conflicts of Land Appropriation. Land Economics, 77 (2, May): 285-289.

Angelsen, Arild and David Kaimowitz. 2001. Agricultural Technologies and Tropical Deforestation. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.
Angelsen, Arild. 1999. Agricultural Expansion and Deforestation: Mo
delling the Impact of Population, Market Forces and Property Rights. Journal of Development Economics, 58 (1, January): 185-218.

Angelsen, Arild and David Kaimowitz. 1999. Rethinking the Causes of Deforestation: Lessons from Economic Models World Bank Research Observer, 14 (1, February): 73-98.

Kaimowitz, David and Arild Angelsen. 1998. Economic Models of Tropical Deforestation. A Review. Bogor, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

Angelsen, Arild. 1995. Shifting Cultivation and “Deforestation”. A Study from Indonesia. World Development, 23 (10, October): 1713-1729.

Published: 02.02.05
Updated: 05.03.09
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