Democracy and deforestation. The politics of protecting the forests

How can the process of tropical deforestation be controlled? We now know a good deal about the causes of deforestation but not its control. Research from the University of Leeds in Thailand and the Philippines fills this gap, showing that changes in the domestic political scene explain how deforestation processes have been controlled in the two countries. Environmental constraints and increases in agricultural productivity can curb the demand for farmland to some extent. Controlling deforestation will depend ultimately, however, on domestic political pressures demanding a change in policy and on the capacity of implementing institutions to carry them through to fruition.