Poverty, commodity prices and agricultural deforestation: lessons from the Ecuadorean coast
Year: 2008
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Deforestation literature commonly associates rising commodity prices with forest loss.Informal interviews in Manabf, Ecuador suggested that corn crops from forest conversion are often abandoned before harvest.Medium-resolution satellite imagery was used to formally measure the conversion of forest to cornfields.Between 2000 and 2005, despite a 185% increase in real domestic corn prices, coastal Ecuador experienced a 2.2% increase in total forested area.This observed forest gain contradicts the widely cited FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment deforestation rates.A multi-disciplinary approach brings into question the utility of national level patterns in sub-regional decision-making.When conducting future research, scholars must consider the original scale of measurement before applying past deforestation estimates.
Source: Summit (Simon Fraser University)
Author: Patrick Andrew Wylie
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: University of Warwick
OpenAlex ID: W41735244