The causes of deforestation in Côte d'Ivoire are varied but can be categorized as principal (direct) and underlying (indirect).

The conversion and use of forestlands for agriculture and logging activities are the principal causes of deforestation in Côte d'Ivoire. Use of forest for fuelwood and clearing forests for cattle grazing are also causative factors, but to a lesser extent.

Increased agricultural production has been a result of expansion of the land area devoted to agricultural uses. With huge untapped reserves of arable land, economic growth was fueled by the rapid extension of the land frontier (Lee, 1983). The expansion, however, has often been onto marginal soils and sloping uplands that cannot support permanent cropping as do the temperate areas, where agricultural production has increased in recent decades mainly through the more intensive use of already cleared land (Ehui and Hertel, 1992a). Table 9 summarizes changes in cropland area in the forest regions of Côte d'Ivoire in 1965 and 1985. During this 20-year period, untouched primary forests were reduced by about 66 percent, whereas the area under cultivation more than doubled (Spears, 1986).