POPULATION AND DEFORESTATION IN COSTA-RICA

This paper addresses a central debate in research and policy on popula tion and environment, namely the extent to which rapid population grow th is associated with the massive deforestation currently underway in the tropics. We utilize the experience of Costa Rica during the last f orty years to illustrate what the main issues are, discuss the history of deforestation in that country, and present results from convention al regression methods and from the application of spatial analyses. Th ese analyses enable us to estimate the magnitude of the relation betwe en population and deforestation and to identify the factors that are r esponsible for the linkage between them.