The literature on tropical forest-cover change observes a set of drivers responsible for
transitions toward reforestation – the so-called ‘forest transition’. Uncertainty still exists
over how the drivers behave in the transition and how trends in reforestation manifest in
different contexts. Focusing on the Panamanian agricultural frontier of the BayanoDarién,
this thesis combines household surveys, remote sensing / GIS analysis and
participant observation to describe nascent trends in reforestation for key actors and
scales, and in relation to antecedent patterns pattern of land-cover change. Results
indicate that the forest-transition is aligned with the patterns of previous land-cover
change. In Eastern Panama, reforestation appears as a fringe event in the landscape.
Though reforestation is popular with some large-scale actors, smallholders continue to
convert forest to pasture, resulting in net deforestation.