Deforestation

Part 1 of this final report outlines current global environmental problems and serves as an introduction to the entire report. Part 2 gives the results of the Conference discussions. Chapter 1 summarizes the data and reference materials that were submitted to the Conference, and demonstrates how serious current environmental problems are by giving actual data on global warming, loss of biodiversity and others. Chapters 2 and 3 summarize the results of the discussions.

Deforestation and forest degradation are two of the main causes of the progressing loss of terrestrial biodiversity and are continuing at an alarming rate worldwide, especially in tropical countries. The underlying drivers of forest destruction vary from region to region, but can be linked mainly to human activities such as land use pressure and related policies.

This paper applies contingent valuation to assess public awareness of tropical deforestation; to investigate the willingness to pay (WTP) to conserve tropical forests; and to determine the impact of the payment vehicle on the stated willingness to pay.