Deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa

Deforestation rate in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) surpassed the global annual average of 0.8 percent - twice the world rate. Socio-economic factors of mainly exponential population growth and high poverty rate are quite often held responsible for the growing deforestation rates in SSA. This link, however, ignores the impact of other important institutional factors on deforestation throughout Africa. Skewed institutional policies, for instance, largely contribute to the increased deforestation rate in most SSA countries. This in turn perpetuates a myriad of unhelpful practices including illegal logging, shifting cultivation that influence other socio-economic factors that eventually accelerate forest degradation. This book, therefore, provides a fresh approach of analyzing the direct or indirect link between land use and ultimately forest cover change in the SSA and its relation to institutional effectiveness. This is an empirical research that evaluates the role that inadequate institutional governance structures play in deforestation across SSA.