ABSTRACT
Gabon is the textbook case of a country where, in line with the core hypothesis, forests have been decisively protected by oil rents, attracting people to urban areas through government spending, grossly reducing agricultural competitiveness and production, and providing strong general disincentives for deforestation and forest degradation. In this respect, the Gabon story will provide a baseline which can be used to compare the other countries’ land-use stories with in the following chapters.
