Are developing countries converting forests to expand the production of cash crops?
Many developing countries are highly indebted and have to find sources of hard currency to repay their loans. This may lead to conversion of forests to expand the production of cash crops such as palm oil, rubber or coffee for export. The case of soybean production in Brazil cited above is one such example. As with many ‘indirect’ causes of deforestation, there is contradictory evidence on the impact of debt, international trade, and the Structural Adjustment Policies which have been introduced to address economic crises in many developing countries. Although it appears logical that highly indebted countries would seek to liquidate natural assets to service debt obligations, different studies have reached different conclusions about the links between debt and deforestation. Structural Adjustment Policies also affect many different sectors of an economy, making it difficult to disentangle ways in which the policies affect forest cover. The World Bank itself recognizes that since Structu
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