| This paper analyzes the relationship between rural poverty and forest land management for the case of charcoal production under slash-and-burn agriculture. An optimal control model is used to determine how a representative household makes decisions about the allocation of labor and about the forest areas to exploit. In turn, these decisions affect the renewable resource base available to the community. The proposed optimal control model for charcoal production is based on the Pascual and Barbier (2007) model of slash-and-burn agriculture. This theoretical model is calibrated with data from the community of Chunkanán, Campeche, Mexico. The simulation and comparison of the traditional slash-and-burn approach to forest management with the Forest Management... |
