Abstract
This paper has developed a two-sector model of forestry that gives some insights into the interactions of poverty, land tenure insecurity, economic growth, trade and deforestation in the context of the drylands of Africa. Externally, the model results show that the world demand for non-timber forestry products can lead to a win-win situation whereby both trade and environmental sustainability can be promoted. Monopolistic measures to control the supply of these products, for short-term price gains, are harmful economically and environmentally. By contrast, productivity-raising measures have a favourable impact on both the economy and the environment. Internally, the model results show that the growth of the rest of the economy has driven the economic growth of the forestry sector, but at the same time, its environmental degradation. Poverty and land tenure insecurity also contribute to this degradation. Fortunately, policies promoting basic needs satisfaction and property rights security are shown to be effective in mitigating environmental degradation in the forestry sector. The paper results contribute towards a more sustainable exploitation of forestry.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Abdelgalil, E.A.: 2000, Economic Policies for Sustainable Resource Development: Models Applied to the Sudan, Ph.D. thesis, Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Abdelgalil, E.A. and Cohen, S.I.: 2001, ‘Policy modelling of the trade-off between agricultural development and land degradation: The Sudan case’, Journal of Policy Modeling 23, 847–874.
Angelsen, A. and Kaimowitz, D.: 1999, ‘Rethinking the causes of deforestation: Lessons from economic models’, The World Bank Research Observer 14(1), 73–98.
African Development Bank (ADB): 1994, Forests and Biomass Subsector in Africa, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Beshai, A.: 1984, ‘The economics of a primary commodity: Gum Arabic’, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 46(4), 371–381.
Dufournaud, C.M., Quinn, J.T., Harrington, J.J. et al.: 1995, ‘A model of sustainable extraction of nontimber forest products in subsistence societies’, Environment and Planning A 27, 1667–1676.
Gigengack, A.R., Jepma, C.J., MacRae, D. and Poldy, F.: 1990, ‘Global modelling of dryland degradation’, in J.A. Dixon, D.E. James and P.B Sherman (eds.), Dry Land Management: Economic Case Studies, London, Earthscan Publications Ltd.
Larson, B.A. and Bromley, D.W.: 1991, ‘Natural resource prices, export policies and deforestation: The case of the Sudan’, World Development 19(10), 1289–1297.
Mendelsohn, R.: 1994, ‘Property rights and tropical deforestation’, Oxford Economic Papers 46, 750–756.
Pearce, D., Barbier, E. and Markandya, A.: 1990, Sustainable Development: Economics and Environment in the Third World, England, Edward Elgar.
Pearce, D. and Turner, R.: 1990, Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, London, Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Salih, S.A.: 1994, Sustainable Ecosystem in Africa: Managing National Forests in Sudan, Helsinki: Working paper No. 117, UNU/WIDER.
Simpson, I.G.: 1991, ‘Land tenure’, in G.M. Craig (ed.), The Agriculture of the Sudan, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
UNDP/World Bank: 1988, Sudan: Wood Energy/Forestry Project, Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, Activity Completion Report No. 073/88.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Abdelgalil, E.A. Deforestation in the drylands of Africa: Quantitative modelling approach. Environ Dev Sustain 6, 415–427 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-005-0787-1
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-005-0787-1