Debt and Deforestation

Richard J. Culas
Additional contact information
Richard J. Culas: Charles Sturt University, Australia

Journal of Developing Societies, 2006, vol. 22, issue 4, 347-358

Abstract: The debt crisis of developing countries led to the widespread adoption of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) during the 1980s. This article examines the hypothesis that heavy foreign debt causes a high rate of tropical deforestation mainly through the clearing of forestland for agricultural expansion. The article also reviews the possible causal links between debt, agricultural expansion and deforestation. Empirical evidence from tropical developing countries indicates that debt and deforestation are positively linked. The article concludes by suggesting that reducing the debt burden of developing countries can widen the opportunities for better environmental policies.

Keywords: agricultural expansion; debt; deforestation; profit–oriented agriculture; Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs); subsistence agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0169796X06071524 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:22:y:2006:i:4:p:347-358

DOI: 10.1177/0169796X06071524

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Developing Societies
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().