Reversing Deforestation

About Reversing Deforestation

Our Book

Dire reports of surging deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon appear often in international headlines, with commentators decrying the destruction of tree-covered habitats as an act of environmental vandalism. Although forest losses are alarming, broader trends are bending in the direction of forest recovery. In this book, Brent Sohngen and Douglas Southgate address the long-term recovery of forests in Latin America. The authors synthesize trends in demography, agricultural development, and technological change, and argue that slower population growth and increasing crop and tree yields—in conjunction with protecting local ownership of natural resources—have encouraged forest transition. This book explores how market forces, ownership arrangements, and the enforcement of property rights have influenced this shift from net deforestation to net afforestation.

Forest transitions have happened before, such as the recovery of tree-covered habitats in Europe and the United States. Signs of a similar transformation in land use are now present in Latin America. Ending deforestation requires a strengthening of forest dwellers’ property rights while ensuring that biodiversity conservation is no longer treated as a value-less externality. The resulting forest landscape, actively managed for ecosystem services, will be more resilient, as is needed to overcome climate change.

Brent Sohngen

CFAES Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics at Ohio State University.

Douglas Southgate

Professor Emeritus in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Developmental Economics at Ohio State University.

What others have said about "Reversing Deforestation"

Edward Barbier, Colorado State University

This book serves as a timely and invaluable aid in designing sensible policies to save the world's remaining tropical forests.

Jeffrey Vincent, Duke University

Edward Barbier, Colorado State University

This bold, compelling book argues that long-term demographical, technological, and institutional processes are bringing back forests in Latin America.

Jennifer Jenkins, Chief Science Officer at Rubicon Carbon

A fascinating exploration of the interrelated factors that help to shape how humans use the land and its products. Sohngen and Southgate provide clear and actionable steps for policymakers

Jayson Lusk, Oklahoma State University

Jennifer Jenkins, Chief Science Officer at Rubicon Carbon

Reversing Deforestation convincingly demonstrates that the path toward sustainable forests lies in increasing agricultural productivity growth and providing property rights.