Deforestation in the tropics is having significant ecological, economic and social impacts (global warming, biodiversity loss, respiratory problems, flooding). Previous research has indicated a close relationship between poverty and deforestation. This study was motivated by high deforestation rates in Dharmasraya, West Sumatra, Indonesia and a desire to test the assumption that poverty was driving this. Using a mixture of primary and secondary data and drawing heavily on 250 interviews with households living in and around the forest in Dharmasraya, this study describes the context, the forest clearing technique used by households, and analyses what drives deforestation in Dharmasraya. The findings showed that people had cleared as much as 80% of the forest using slash-and-burn techniques. Hotspots were observed from the NOAA satellite. It was found that deforestation in Dharmasraya was driven by middle-class households who control land with an average of 14.97 ha. This finding is significant because it suggests that a forest-related development programme should benefit society economically and socially, the latter in terms of awareness of the importance of protecting the forest because of its ecological functions.