What drives deforestation and what stops it? A meta-analysis of spatially explicit econometric studies
This paper presents a meta-analysis of what drives deforestation and what stops it. The researchers find that forests are more likely to be cleared where economic returns to agriculture and pasture are higher, either due to more favorable climatological and topographic conditions, or due to lower costs of clearing forest and transporting products to market. It is argued that timber activity, land tenure security, and community demographics do not show a consistent association with either higher or lower deforestation.