Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2009
The case of Western Samoa is used to challenge the tendency in the recent literature to polarize the issue of tropical deforestation as caused by either political economic forces or increasing human demands. While it is recognized that political economic forces must be changed in many cases to make just and sustainable use of the forest possible, the case of Western Samoa is used to highlight the difficult challenge of conserving tropical forests and their biodiversity even under customary land-tenure and local control of forest resources.