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This PhD by Publication traces through 13 of my publications on economic incentives for forest management and conservation in tropical countries (with a regional bias towards Latin America), including several papers focused on participatory forest management or community-based conservation. The papers show how my thinking has evolved from a focus on market and nonmarket incentives, to an increasing emphasis on governance and regulatory incentives in explaining stakeholder behaviour to the forest resource, as well as the equity impacts. They reveal that positive incentives and win-win (environmental and poverty reduction) outcomes will only emerge when the underlying market, policy and institutional failures are tackled. Because of their public good values, the survival of tropical forests is contingent on the actions of the international community and governments. Sustainable forestry, therefore, depends on a combination of domestic governance progress to control illegal logging and the rent-seeking powers of vested interest groups, global governance regulations which create markets for environmental services, secure property rights for resident stakeholders and extra-sectoral policies that moderate land use opportunity costs. The current main hope for tropical forests is 'avoided deforestation' since this will need to tackle the forest governance problems and underlying multi-sectoral drivers of deforestation if it is to be successful. It represents a balanced market (payments for ecosystem services) and supply-side (improved governance) response to what is essentially a 'public goods' management problem, but will need to overcome some major political economy challenges.

Tropical rainforests are globally recognized as important biodiversity areas. Most of these forests are situated in regions with high population density, high poverty and high unemployment which leave local people little choice but to use forests resources to survive. Consequently, tropical forests are rapidly declining due to deforestation and unsustainable consumptive utilization of their natural resources. One of the main challenges facing efficient management and protection of tropical forests is reconciling human needs of the forest resources with biodiversity conservation interests. The objective of this study was to examine coupled nature of how human use of the forest impact biodiversity and biodiversity influence where humans use the forest. The study investigated patterns of wood harvest across Kakamega Tropical Rainforest and quantified rate and amount of wood harvested from the forest. Point sample Timber Cruising methodology and pitfall trapping were used to assess trees and arthropods respectively to characterize the status of forest health. Results showed that wood harvesters preferred indigenous as opposed to non-indigenous wood and that indigenous wood was sold for a premium price. Moreover, natural forest areas that had indigenous and rare tree species were targeted by humans for wood extraction, suggesting a bidirectional influence of human use on forest biodiversity and biodiversity on human use. Conservation of Kakamega forest is linked to social and economic development of the people living near it. Consequently, market economies may be able to incentivize forest conservation since it seems to drive forest use. This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter one provides a general introduction about the study and the study area. Chapter two is a standalone entity and a peer review paper (short communication) that describes assessment of the rate and quantity of wood harvested from Kakamega forest. Similarly, Chapter three which is also a standalone entity, explains forest health assessment, and how management of the forest and the two conservation interventions (tea belts and energy efficient cook stoves) have impacted forest health. Chapter four gives summary of the study findings, recommendations, study limitations, and suggestions for future research work.