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This paper reports the results of an empirical analysis of the relationship between income and the rate of deforestation of tropical natural forests. The inverted U-shaped relationship known as the environmental Kuznets curve is confirmed here when it is examined for about 60 countries from the tropical regions of Latin America, Africa, and Asia during the period 1980 to 1995. The study focuses on the role of institutions and governing factors and macroeconomic policies in the tropical deforestation process. Results indicate that the quality of governance and underlying institutions are important determinants of forest resource preservation, and that rural population pressure is not as important as suggested by other studies. Agricultural technology improvement and enhanced educational attainment and social development factors also lead to reductions of deforestation rates.1 A selected paper presented at

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US exports of apples, poultry, and unmanufactured tobacco were analyzed using regression techniques to determine their responsiveness to foreign market development expenditures. It was determined that apple and tobacco exports were responsive, while poultry exports were not. Marginal returns to an additional dollar of export promotion for apples and tobacco were $60 and 31, respectively. Results indicated that response to poultry promotion was not different from zero. This is likely due to aggregation of data which does not permit isolating impacts of specific promotional efforts.

This chapter contains a compendium of pest management practices for food crops other than rice, mainly vegetable crops (soyabeans, cabbage, shallots/onions, chillies, aubergine, beans, and tomato), in South-east Asia, specifically Indonesia. Field research and demonstration projects for most of these crops have shown that substantial reductions of pesticide applications are possible without jeopardizing yields. Results are summarized from field tests conducted in the mid-1990s in west Java, central Java and Sumatra, applying IPM principles with specific recommendations for each crop, and with broad applicability throughout the country. Given the potential reductions in pesticide applications, associated environmental and human health benefits justify a policy commitment to expand IPM training to areas where these crops are concentrated. Some of the IPM tactics that could have a major impact if adopted on a wide area are listed. One constraint is that information about tactics found useful in one area is often not transferred to another. Participatory field studies with farmers will be the most appropriate way to determine whether the various tactics are applicable for specific locations and socio-economic settings.

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