ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The present document is the result of work I carried out with funding by the FAO André Mayer Fellowship Programme. I was released by the Instituto Brasileiro de Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA, Brazil). The work was undertaken between October 1995 and December 1996, largely at the Department of Forest Resources of the University of Minnesota, United States, which acted as host institution for the period of study and provided facilities as well as administrative, technical and scientific support to me throughout the study. Thanks to all of the Department for their attention and kindness. The assistance of Prof. Hans M. Gregersen and Prof. Allen L. Lundgren is especially acknowledged: my thanks and gratitude to both.

Thanks also go to IBAMA for having nominated me for the fellowship and for allowing me to be on leave for the time of the study. In particular, thanks to Sinfronio Sousa Silva,  Paulo Roberto do Nascimento, Aparecida Solange Pinto Olivetti, Tania Maria Vieira da Silva, Lindalva Ferreira Cavalcanti, Dr. Mario Rabelo Souza, Joaquim Henrique Montelo Moura and to all other colleagues of IBAMA who in one way or another gave their support.

Thanks to Dr. Neil Byron from the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and Dr. Carlos Marx Ribeiro Carneiro.

The Fellowship included a briefing at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, during which I had the opportunity to discuss, collect information and obtain inputs to the study from many colleagues from different departments and divisions. It also included a trip to Kenya to collect information at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and to England to visit the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). In the United States, visits were made to the World Bank, the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) and other organizations, such as Resources for the Future (RFF) and World Resources Institute (WRI). Thanks to all of these people, with special reference to Dr. Nalin M. Kishor, Dr. John A. Dixon and Dr. Louise F. Scura from the World Bank, Kari Keipi from IDB, Prof. David Pearce from CSERGE, Dr. Joshua Bishop from IIED, Walter V. Reid from WRI, Dr. Roger A. Sedjo from RFF and Bai-Mass M. Taal and Aiko U. D. Bode from UNEP.

The study was coordinated by Mafa Chipeta, Officer-in-Charge, Forestry Planning and Statistics Branch, Forestry Department of FAO in Rome. My thanks and gratitude for his support and great help. Thanks also to Linda Ransom for her administrative support. Thanks to Jean Marc Meyour, Senior Fellowships Officer, Fellowships Group, for overall administrative guidance.

Sebastiao Kengen

College of Forest Resources

University of Minnesota

St. Paul, USA

November 1996