As the problems of impact assessement are rather intractable, a fairly simple dual approach is proposed. First the major components of environmental impact of current agricultural production systems in Africa (i.e. impact of cropping, livestock keeping, fuelwood and timber extraction and burning) are summarised. Second, "danger zones" in which current and future environmental impacts will be most severe and on which ILCA has focused its problem solving-research is identified.

Gabon’s oil wealth coincides with the fact that it is one of the most forested countries in Africa; about four-fifths of its land area is covered by forests. But this is not really a coincidence. The central hypothesis of this report is that oil rents have enabled a series of pro-urban, anti-rural policies that, together with the low demographic pressure, have been key in protecting forests from degradation and deforestation. In particular, forest conversion to cropland has been contained. Most probably, oil has helped expand forest cover in absolute terms.

There have been several major research efforts on the rate and causes of Indonesia's deforestation in recent years and much associated literature, but there is still no consensus in the research community on these issues. This paper reviews the areas of uncertainty and confusion, and proposes questions that must be answered to get a better grasp of the subject. Among the key questions are: (1) How are we to define "forest", "deforestation" and "agency” in the context of Indonesia?