Oil Wealth and the Fate of the Forest: A Comparative Study of Eight Tropical Countries

Oil-related activities damage tropical rainforests, but this is just one side of a complicated story. This book, a study of oil producing countries, looks at the linkages between macroeconomic trends and how policies affect the environment. In a balanced and comprehensive review, Sven Wunder, shows that oil revenues can indirectly come to protect tropical rainforests using case studies based on eight countries including Cameroon, Ecuador, Gabon, Papua New Guinea and Venezuela. This topical, accessible and readable book has immediate and direct implications for policy formulation that help decide what can be done to diminish deforestation without jeopardizing economic growth. This book needs to be read not only by students and academics involved in environmental economics, but also by all those involved in policymaking.

Sven Wunder is Senior Economist at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Indonesia.