ABSTRACT
Deforestation stands out among environmental issues that need urgent attention. It is one of the few issues on which the 1992 Rio Convention was unable to reach an agreement, mainly because of disagreements between environmentalists and developmentalists. Efforts to conclude a global convention on deforestation since Rio have equally been futile. Although the existence of a global convention does not necessarily guarantee that countries will consistently abide by such a convention, it does provide a legitimate basis for international pressure to be put on signatories. On the other hand, a country that believes that a problem exists will not be hindered from seeking ways to deal with it, just because of the absence of a global guide on the issue. The absence of a global convention on deforestation, thus, has very much left in the hands of individual countries the issue of managing their forests as they please consistent with national goals, priorities and hopefully, environmental purity. Unfortunately, many countries have traded their environments for economic advantages through the types of economic strategies and policies they have pursued.
