Social Policies Behind the Frontier

Areas "behind the frontier", in other words those which have been converted irreversibly but relatively recently from forest to pasture may contribute to further deforestation if surplus population feels a need or an incentive to move from them into uncleared forest. The need mainly arises from degradation of pastures and can be mitigated by investment in research and extension for intensification; incentives are created through land titling and can be mitigated by reform of land tenure and land taxation. However, social policies, broadly defined, can play their part in stabilising populations behind forest frontiers. Such policies can include:

- Provision of human services (health, education, law and order). Such services are often rudimentary in recently colonised areas.
- Provision of infrastructure (energy, roads, decent housing)
- Creation of non-agricultural employment

The role of such policies in preventing out-migration and further deforestation may be hard to appraise either ex-ante or ex-post, but may still be significant. Each sort of policy will need to follow best practice in the particular sector, paying attention to factors such as the proper budgetting for recurrent expenditure.

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