Economic Progress in the Countryside, Forests, and Public Policy

Abstract

Recent contributions to the literature on the causes of tropical deforestation indicate that, under certain circumstances, agricultural intensification (i.e., raising crop and livestock yields) can accelerate farmers and ranchers’ encroachment on tree-covered land. We contend, however, that the linkage between intensification and habitat conservation is generally positive. Chilean experience during the 1980s and 1990s is a good example. Domestic and foreign demand for agricultural output increased substantially. But because of productivity improvements, agricultural land use fell; the forested portion of the national territory rose from 19 percent in 1990 to 24 percent in 1998. In contrast, large tracts of forests have been converted into cropland and pasture in Ecuador during the last two decades. Productivity-enhancing investment having been very deficient, agricultural land use increased at a 2 percent annual rate during the 1980s and continued to expand in the 1990s.