1. Develop new remote sensing techniques for monitoring open woodland degradation.
2. Identify the causes of open forest degradation by empirical studies of agricultural and urban expansion.
3. Develop the theory of the causes of open forest degradation.
4. Develop economic and GIS models to simulate spatial trends in open forest degradation and test against actual trends observed in selected study areas.
5. Clarify and model the influence of government policies and local and national institutions on the use of open forest lands.
6. Use the resulting political economy and institutional models to help explain differences between actual degradation trends and those predicted by the economic model.
7. Synthesize project findings to define what is meant by sustainable land management and sustainable forest management in open forest lands subject to multiple uses, and develop the theory of the role of open forests in sustainable development.
8. Suggest how governments could enhance their policies to make open forest land management and national development more sustainable, and how to use the mathematical models devised in the project as the basis for planning techniques to assist in this.