Changing drivers of deforestation and new opportunities for conservation

Rudel, Thomas K., Defries, Ruth, Asner, Gregory P., and Laurance, William F. (2009) Changing drivers of deforestation and new opportunities for conservation. Conservation Biology, 23 (6). pp. 1396-1405.

[img] PDF (Published Version)
Restricted to Repository staff only

View at Publisher Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.20...
 
375
4


Abstract

Over the past 50 years, human agents of deforestation have changed in ways that have potentially important implications for conservation efforts. We characterized these changes through a meta-analysis of case studies of land-cover change in the tropics. From the 1960s to the 1980s, small-scale farmers, with state assistance, deforested large areas of tropical forest in Southeast Asia and Latin America. As globalization and urbanization increased during the 1980s, the agents of deforestation changed in two important parts of the tropical biome, the lowland rainforests in Brazil and Indonesia. Well-capitalized ranchers, farmers, and loggers producing for consumers in distant markets became more prominent in these places and this globalization weakened the historically strong relationship between local population growth and forest cover. At the same time, forests have begun to regrow in some tropical uplands. These changing circumstances, we believe, suggest two new and differing strategies for biodiversity conservation in the tropics, one focused on conserving uplands and the other on promoting environmental stewardship in lowlands and other areas conducive to industrial agriculture.

Item ID: 5610
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1523-1739
Keywords: tropical biology, conservation, conservation, population trends, tropical deforestation, tropical rainforests
Related URLs:
Date Deposited: 23 Dec 2009 05:56
FoR Codes: 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0501 Ecological Applications > 050104 Landscape Ecology @ 50%
05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050202 Conservation and Biodiversity @ 50%
SEO Codes: 89 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SERVICES > 8998 Environmentally Sustainable Information and Communication Services > 899899 Environmentally Sustainable Information and Communication Services not elsewhere classified @ 100%
Downloads: Total: 4
More Statistics

Actions (Repository Staff Only)

Item Control Page Item Control Page