REGIONAL PATTERNS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS IN TROPICAL DEFORESTATION, 1976-1990 - A QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS

Reports of tropical deforestation indicate that it occurs in diverse c ircumstances which obscure underlying patterns of causation. Cross-nat ional statistical analyses do not reveal these patterns because they c an not investigate how causal factors interact with each other in spec ific contexts. Under these circumstances a qualitative comparative stu dy of tropical deforestation might be useful. Drawing on qualitative s ources, we classify countries with tropical forests on a series of att ributes. Using Boolean algebra, we look for cross-national similaritie s in processes of deforestation, creating sets of countries with simil ar processes. This analysis points to the importance of interior locat ions in Africa and South America for forest preservation, suggests tha t the retreat of small, remnant forests into rugged topography has not slowed deforestation, and indicates that stronger forest-protection p olicies may have reduced deforestation. A regional analysis finds dist inct patterns of tropical deforestation in Asia, East Africa, West Afr ica, Central America/Caribbean, and South America. The West African an d Central American patterns are quite similar. The policy implications of these findings are briefly considered.