I will attempt to find the underlying causes of deforestation, or the loss of forest cover, in eight Southeast Asian countries and to analyze prospects for sustainable forest management. These eight countries are Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. In order to explain deforestation, I examined the relationship of deforestation to population, agricultural production, slash and burn cultivation, and (over-harvested and illegal) logging. I found that as deforestation increased, agricultural production, slash and burn cultivation, and logging also increased. Increasing population pressure expanded deforestation. After applying one successful program in Thailand to the other seven countries, I proposed several solutions to slow deforestation.