Ecosystems and Human Health : The Local Benefits of Forest Cover in Indonesia

This paper documents the effect of primary forest cover loss on increased incidence of malaria. The evidence is consistent with an ecological response and land use change, anti-malarial programs or migration cannot explain the effect of forest cover loss on increased malarial incidence. The effect is specific to malaria, with forest cover having no discernible effect on other diseases with a disease ecology different from that of malaria. Back of the envelope calculations indicate that the morbidity-related malaria-reducing local benefits of primary forests are at least $1-$2 per hectare