Economics of tropical forest land use

There is concern about economically excessive conversion of tropical forest land to alternative uses, such as agricultural production. In this thesis, a comprehensive review of the economics of forest land use in a tropical forest setting is presented. A theoretical model of tropical forest management for timber production, with non-timber forest benefits, insecure land tenure and evolving prices taken into account, is developed and numerically illustrated. The timber production model is extended to include alternative tropical forest land use options, such as conversion to agriculture. The decision to switch between alternative land uses over time due to changing prices and costs is also explored. The stand level model is extended to the forest level to examine the impact of stand interactions on forest land use decisions. The decision to convert forest land to alternative uses is empirically examined at the tropics wide level and at the country level for Mexico. The impacts of forest and related sector policies on forest land use decisions are explored. The theoretical and empirical analyses presented in this thesis provide important insights for a discussion of the policy options to promote greater tropical forest conservation