Forest concessions are currently in a state of flux. Despite mitigated results in some regions, they are still hailed as the path to sustainable forest management on other continents. Using geographical, economic, and political viewpoints, this article offers a multidisciplinary perspective to account for this apparent contradiction. The authors conclude that although political actors continue to support or criticize them by using a range of historical, contextual, and ideological associations, large-scale forest concessions can be theoretically justified from an economic and geographical viewpoint.