One of the important issues for the human dimension program is to better understand the complex interactions between socio-economic and agro-ecological variables at the various levels (local, regional, national and international) influencing the decision process of the various agents with respect to deforestation. In this context, there has been a lot of studies based on economic modeling applied to the Brazilian Amazon, aimed at analysing these complex interactions and their impact on the magnitude of deforestation. Such models are necessarily a simplification of the real world and must only be considered like one of the tools allowing to better understand why agents are deforesting or not. The paper will present a survey of these models methods, results, strengths and limitations and compare their results with empirical studies at a finer scale. Such finer scale studies will focuss on farmers behaviour in several contrasted agricultural frontiers of the Amazon. It will allow to better assess what we know today with respect to the sources, the agents, the direct and underlying causes of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
Submitted by Marie Gabrielle Piketty on 17-MAR-2004