IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/uwp/landec/v89y2013iv1p699-721.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social and Ecological Determinants of Land Clearing in the Brazilian Amazon: A Spatial Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Winslow D. Hanse
  • Helen T. Naughton

Abstract

While tropical land clearing provides for the livelihoods of Brazilians from many socioeconomic backgrounds, it also affects climatological and ecological processes. To develop sustainable forest use, further study is needed to investigate the causes of tropical land clearing. This study uses spatial econometric techniques to estimate the effects of ecosystem productivity, measured by soil fertility and climate, and strategic interactions on municipal-level land clearing in the Brazilian Legal Amazon between 1975 and 1995. We find a negative relationship between soil fertility and land clearing. Furthermore, there is evidence of positive spatial interactions across municipalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Winslow D. Hanse & Helen T. Naughton, 2013. "Social and Ecological Determinants of Land Clearing in the Brazilian Amazon: A Spatial Analysis," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(4), pages 699-721.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:landec:v:89:y:2013:iv:1:p:699-721
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://le.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/89/4/699
    Download Restriction: A subscripton is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Garth Holloway & Donald Lacombe & James P. LeSage, 2007. "Spatial Econometric Issues for Bio‐Economic and Land‐Use Modelling," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 549-588, September.
    2. Mendonça, Mário Jorge & Loureiro, Paulo R.A. & Sachsida, Adolfo, 2012. "The dynamics of land-use in Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 23-36.
    3. Andersen,Lykke E. & Granger,Clive W. J. & Reis,Eustaquio J. & Weinhold,Diana & Wunder,Sven, 2002. "The Dynamics of Deforestation and Economic Growth in the Brazilian Amazon," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521811972, November.
    4. Robert R. Schneider & Eugenio Arima & Adalberto Verissimo & Carlos, Jr. Souza & Paulo Barreto, 2002. "Sustainable Amazon : Limitations and Opportunities for Rural Development," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14089.
    5. Gerald C. Nelson & GVirginia Harris & Steven W. Stone, 2001. "Deforestation, Land Use, and Property Rights: Empirical Evidence from Darién, Panama," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 77(2), pages 187-205.
    6. Barbier, Edward B., 2000. "Links between economic liberalization and rural resource degradation in the developing regions," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 299-310, September.
    7. Klaus Deininger & Bart Minten, 2002. "Determinants of Deforestation and the Economics of Protection: An Application to Mexico," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(4), pages 943-960.
    8. P. Wilner Jeanty, 2010. "SPMLREG: Stata module to estimate the spatial lag, the spatial error, the spatial durbin, and the general spatial models by maximum likelihood," Statistical Software Components S457135, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 25 Dec 2013.
    9. Walker, Robert & Moran, Emilio & Anselin, Luc, 2000. "Deforestation and Cattle Ranching in the Brazilian Amazon: External Capital and Household Processes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 683-699, April.
    10. Mur, Jesús & Angulo, Ana, 2009. "Model selection strategies in a spatial setting: Some additional results," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 200-213, March.
    11. Klemick, Heather, 2011. "Shifting cultivation, forest fallow, and externalities in ecosystem services: Evidence from the Eastern Amazon," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 95-106, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fonseca Morello, Thiago & Marchetti Ramos, Rossano & O. Anderson, Liana & Owen, Nathan & Rosan, Thais Michele & Steil, Lara, 2020. "Predicting fires for policy making: Improving accuracy of fire brigade allocation in the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    2. Wang, Haoluan & Qiu, Feng, 2016. "Investigating the Spatial Effects of Agricultural Land Abandonment and Expansion," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235468, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Araujo, Claudio & Bonjean, Catherine Araujo & Combes, Jean-Louis & Combes Motel, Pascale & Reis, Eustaquio J., 2009. "Property rights and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2461-2468, June.
    2. Sonia SCHWARTZ & Jean Galbert ONGONO OLINGA & Eric Nazindigouba KERE & Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Jean-Louis COMBES & Johanna CHOUMERT & Ariane Manuela AMIN, 2014. "A spatial econometric approach to spillover effects between protected areas and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Working Papers 201406, CERDI.
    3. Mullan, Katrina & Caviglia-Harris, Jill L. & Sills, Erin O., 2021. "Sustainability of agricultural production following deforestation in the tropics: Evidence on the value of newly-deforested, long-deforested and forested land in the Brazilian Amazon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    4. Faria, Weslem Rodrigues & Almeida, Alexandre Nunes, 2016. "Relationship between openness to trade and deforestation: Empirical evidence from the Brazilian Amazon," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 85-97.
    5. Allen Blackman & Beatriz Ávalos-Sartorio & Jeffrey Chow, 2012. "Land Cover Change in Agroforestry: Shade Coffee in El Salvador," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 88(1), pages 75-101.
    6. Alessandro De Pinto & Gerald C. Nelson, 2007. "Modelling Deforestation and Land‐Use Change: Sparse Data Environments," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 502-516, September.
    7. Elisabeth Hettig & Jann Lay & Kacana Sipangule, 2016. "Drivers of Households’ Land-Use Decisions: A Critical Review of Micro-Level Studies in Tropical Regions," Land, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-32, October.
    8. Faria, Weslem & de Almeida, Alexandre, 2013. "Relationship between Openness to Trade and Deforestation: Empirical Evidence from the Brazilian Amazon," TD NEREUS 3-2013, Núcleo de Economia Regional e Urbana da Universidade de São Paulo (NEREUS).
    9. Araujo, Claudio & Bonjean, Catherine Araujo & Combes, Jean Louis & Motel, Pascal Combes & Reis, Eustaquio Jose, 2008. "Land Reform And Deforestation In The Brazilian Amazonia," 46th Congress, July 20-23, 2008, Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil 108618, Sociedade Brasileira de Economia, Administracao e Sociologia Rural (SOBER).
    10. David Wheeler, Dan Hammer, Robin Kraft, 2011. "From REDD to Green: A Global Incentive System to Stop Tropical Forest Clearing- Working Paper 282," Working Papers 282, Center for Global Development.
    11. Daniel Müller & Darla K. Munroe, 2005. "Tradeoffs between Rural Development Policies and Forest Protection: Spatially Explicit Modeling in the Central Highlands of Vietnam," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 81(3).
    12. Claudio ARAUJO & Catherine ARAUJO BONJEAN & Jean-Louis COMBES & Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Eustaquio J. REIS, 2005. "Insécurité foncière et déforestation dans l'Amazonie brésilienne," Working Papers 200516, CERDI.
    13. Klemick, Heather, 2011. "Constraints or Cooperation? Determinants of Secondary Forest Cover Under Shifting Cultivation," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 40(3), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Bahadur K.C., Krishna, 2011. "Linking physical, economic and institutional constraints of land use change and forest conservation in the hills of Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(8), pages 603-613, October.
    15. Takahashi, Ryo & Otsuka, Keijiro & Tilahun, Mesfin & Birhane, Emiru & Holden, Stein, 2024. "Beyond Ostrom: Randomized experiment of the impact of individualized tree rights on forest management in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    16. Pascale COMBES MOTEL & Jean-Louis COMBES & Catherine ARAUJO BONJEAN & Claudio ARAUJO & Eustaquio J. REIS, 2010. "Does Land Tenure Insecurity Drive Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?," Working Papers 201013, CERDI.
    17. Robert Walker, 2004. "Theorizing Land-Cover and Land-Use Change: The Case of Tropical Deforestation," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 27(3), pages 247-270, July.
    18. Blackman, Allen, 2013. "Evaluating forest conservation policies in developing countries using remote sensing data: An introduction and practical guide," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-16.
    19. Sims, Katharine R.E., 2010. "Conservation and development: Evidence from Thai protected areas," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 94-114, September.
    20. Barbier, Edward B., 2004. "Agricultural Expansion, Resource Booms and Growth in Latin America: Implications for Long-run Economic Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 137-157, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C31 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions; Social Interaction Models
    • Q24 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Land

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:uwp:landec:v:89:y:2013:iv:1:p:699-721. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://le.uwpress.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.