reforestation mania

From Ronald Bailey in Reason, some thoughts on re-forestation...

Bailey cites this from a NY Times article by Elizabeth Rosenthal:

By one estimate, for every acre of rain forest cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics on land that was once farmed, logged or ravaged by natural disaster.

How is this possible? Economic growth and technological advance.

When economic well-being reaches certain levels, then environmental quality improves. Not surprisingly, people whose material standards of living rise above threshold levels become increasingly interested in environmental standards of living.

Bailey also cites these findings from this published research paper by Kauppi et. al.

-This follows the same pattern as has been seen in industrialized countries throughout the 20th century.

-Forests begin expanding, on average, when per capita income reaches $4,600.