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Tenure Diversity and Dependent Causation in the Effects of Regional Integration on Land Use: Evaluating the Evolutionary Theory of Land Rights in Acre, Brazil
Abstract
In the complex causation behind land change, dependent causation can play a central role. A case in point concerns land tenure diversity, where contrasting use rules for different lands may affect the impacts of other drivers on land use outcomes. We therefore evaluate the evolutionary theory of land rights (ETLR), which assumes homogeneous private property rights, in order to test for dependent causation due to distinct use rules among various types of private lands. In the present analysis, we focus on whether land tenure type modifies the effects of highway infrastructure on key outcomes highlighted in the ETLR framework. We take up the case of rural settlements along the Inter-Oceanic Highway in the eastern part of the Brazilian state of Acre, where there is considerable land tenure diversity. Findings from multivariate models for land titling, the castanha nut harvest and cattle pasture all indicate that the effects of infrastructure depend on land tenure type. These results confirm the importance of dependent causation behind land use and bear implications for theory on land change, infrastructure impacts, and land system science.
... Land tenure systems mediate the relationship between social actors amongst themselves and towards land and its resources, defining access, use, withdrawal, and alienation rights and duties (Corbera et al. 2011;Schlager and Ostrom 1992). These differences cause diverse land management strategies by landholders leading to distinct FCC outcomes (Paneque-Gálvez et al. 2013;Perz et al. 2017). For example, in Brazil, rapid deforestation was an outcome of the establishment of agrarian reform rural settlements, as settlers were expected to clear and keep the land under productive use to secure tenure (Fearnside 2001). ...
Die anhaltende Entwaldung tropischer Regenwälder und die damit einhergehenden sozialen und ökologischen Folgen finden zunehmend Beachtung nationaler Regierungen und zivilgesellschaftlicher Akteure, die Initiativen zur Verringerung der Entwaldung und Strategien zum Schutz von Lebensräumen und Artenvielfalt entwickelt haben. Die Waldrestaurierung, d.h. die Wiederherstellung von Waldökosystemen, stellt hierbei, neben der Verringerung der Entwaldung, ein entscheidendes Ziel dar. Brasilien spielt in diesem Zusammenhang eine entscheidende Rolle. Der Großteildes Amazonas-Regenwaldes, der größte zusammenhängende tropische Regenwald der Welt, liegt auf brasilianischem Gebiet. Nahezu 18% des brasilianischen Regenwaldes sind bereits gerodet. Landspekulation, Bergbau, und Landwirtschaft stellen die stärkste Bedrohung für die Existenz des Regenwaldes dar. Im Rahmen des Pariser Abkommens hat sich Brasilien dazu verpflichtet die Netto-Entwaldung bis 2030 zu stoppen und 12 Millionen Hektar Waldökosysteme wiederherzustellen. Eine zentrale Rolle für die Umsetzung der Verpflichtung kommt dem brasilianischen Waldschutzgesetz (BFC) zu, der wichtigsten brasilianischen Umweltgesetzgebung, die die Rahmenbedingungen für die Landnutzung auf privatem Landbesitz regelt. Im brasilianischen Amazon verlangt das BFC den Schutz von 80% der natürlichen Vegetation, als sogenanntes Legal Reserves (LRs). In der neusten Gesetzesversion von 2012 wurde erstmals der Umgang mit denjenigen Landbesitzern festgelegt, die den Gesetzesvorgaben nicht entsprechen. Es wird erwartet, dass die Umsetzung des neuen BFCs auf der einen Seite den Schutz der Wälder in den LRs gewährleistet und auf der andern Seite, unter Mitwirkung der Landbesitzer, zu ein großflächige Waldrestaurierung führt. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist das Ziel dieser Dissertation die Potenziale des BFC für den Schutz der Ur- und den nachwachsenden Wäldern zu ermitteln. Im Speziellen habe ich in der vorliegenden Dissertation (i) die Raum-Zeitlichen Veränderungen der Waldflächen im Einflussbereich der Bundesstraße BR-163, zwischen Cuiabá und Santarém, analysiert; (ii) das Potenzial der BFC für den Schutz der des Regenwaldes und für die Waldrestaurierung bewertet; und (iii) prioritäre Gebiete für ein großflächige Waldrestaurierung, unter Einbezug von Kosten, Biodiversität und Kohlenstoffspeicherung, identifiziert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass ein Großteil der massiven Entwaldung in der Region zwischen Cuiabá und Santarém auf privaten Grundstücken stattfand. Dies lässt auf eine weitverbreitete Nichteinhaltung des BFCs schließen. Hohe Netto-Entwaldungsraten und eine rückläufige Verbreitung nachwachsenden Waldes deutet darauf hin, dass die Region weit von einer Trendwende von Netto-Waldverlust, zu Netto-Waldzuwachs entfernt ist. Um eine Ausbreitung der Wälder voranzutreiben, ist es daher notwendig, das Management der Ur- und nachwachsenden Wälder zu verbessern. Die Ergebnisse dieser Dissertation zeigen, dass mehr als 6 Millionen Hektar der derzeitigen Waldregeneration geschützt und ein Drittel der LR-Defizite ausgeglichen werden könnten, wenn die nachwachsenden Wälder in die Schutzzonen der LRs einbezogen werden. Die künftige Regulierung der BFC-Ausgleichsmechanismen wird einen entscheidenden Effekt auf die Waldrestaurierung und den Schutz der Urwälder haben. Die Analyse möglicher Regulierungs-Szenarien hat deutliche Variation zwischen prioritären Gebieten für die Waldrestaurierung in Mato Grosso gezeigt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Waldrestaurierung auf privaten Grundstücken entscheidend für den Schutz von Biodiversität ist. Demgegenüber zeigt sich die Wiederherstellung von Waldökosystemen auf öffentlichem Land kostengünstiger und effektiver für die Kohlenstoffspeicherung. Die Ergebnisse demonstrieren die Relevanz detaillierter räumlicher Informationen zu Landbesitz und Landnutzungsänderungen, um die Auswirkungen von neuen rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen für den Waldschutz und die Waldrestaurierung in tropischen Gebieten zu untersuchen. Die Schätzungen der derzeit nachwachsenden Waldflache, und dessen Schutzstatus, sind entscheidend um die nationalen Ziele der Waldrestaurierung zu erreichen. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass ein besseres Management von nachwachsenden Waldökosystemen durch Bundes- und Landesgesetze notwendig ist, und neue Strategien und Mechanismen, die den Schutz nachwachsenden Wäldern sicherstellen, erarbeitet werden müssen.
... Land tenure has been the concern of academia for a long time (Harris, 1953;Perz et al., 2017). The privatisation of grassland property rights or use rights has been regarded as a panacea to avoid overgrazing and protect the grassland ecosystem, in order to avoid the situation termed 'the tragedy of the commons' (Hardin, 1968;McEvoy, 1987;Ybarra, 2009). ...
This paper analyses women’s access and security to land under customary land governance in Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs) in Northern Ghana through document analyses and surveys of 312 land right holders and tenants from 13 communities. The key interest is to investigate the potential for combining customary land practices with land title registration and education in improving women’s economic empowerment and social development in the Dorimon and Zukpiri CREMAs. The paper focuses on the motivation of land right holders to grant land rights to women through land use agreements and reasons for terminating such agreements, and provides critical perspectives and data to support the development of tenure security indicators for community protected agro-ecological areas. The study also assesses the position of women in anticipation of forest carbon credits as against their current land holding rights and concludes that despite inherent weaknesses of customary land governance in protected areas, opportunities exist to scale up and expand the formalisation of land use rights through CREMAs, education and the use of Voluntary Savings and Loans Association to enable women gain access to sufficient land. This could significantly help improve women smallholder farmers’ tenure security to land, provide livelihood options, enhance food security and ensure their participation and profit from entering into result based ecosystem payment scheme such as REDD+.
This article examines land tenure reform in South Africa with a focus on women in the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal. Using the case study of UMnini Trust Traditional Area, it critically analyses the extent to which current land reform programmes address gender disparities - especially equal access to land and secure land rights by women. In order to provide an insight into this issue, this study used both secondary and primary data sources. The major findings emanating from this study suggest that land remains an emotive issue in rural South Africa, especially among women who are side-lined by government intervention measures. Previous policies and legislations that purposefully neglected and isolated women as beneficiaries of any developmental initiatives are still very much entrenched in contemporary society. The article concludes by recommending for redesigning as well as implementing policies and legislations that are accommodative of women's plight as far as access to land and security of tenure is concerned.
This study analyzes the distribution of cultural values associated with forest and non-forest landscapes among stakeholder groups shaping land use and land cover change (LULCC) in an agricultural/forest frontier in the western Brazilian Amazon. The study addresses theoretical and methodological obstacles to the integration of cultural data and social science research into the study of LULCC, providing a simple, systematic, and more accurate way of understanding this missing feature of land change. The findings offer insights on elusive cultural features that influence how diverse actors make land use decisions and respond to drivers, and can thus contribute to enhancing the predictive capacity of land change research.
This paper investigates how land tenure reform has affected livestock production in the pastoral
areas of China. County-level data for Inner Mongolia between 1985 and 2008 are used in a fixed
effects model to disentangle the effects of land tenure reform on livestock production from factors
related to market forces, grassland condition, technological development and environmental
heterogeneity. The results show that the implementation of the land tenure reform slowed down
the increase in livestock production, although it did not completely stop this increase. It therefore
appears that land reform is in itself unable to offset the impact of other factors that accelerate the
increase in livestock production. Moreover, the constraining effect of the land tenure reform on
the increase in livestock production decreases over time, and ultimately disappears. Finally, the
constraining effect of the land tenure reform was shown to be stronger on the increase of the
livestock population than on that of meat output. This indicates that the land tenure reform has
helped to improve livestock productivity.
Major integration initiatives such as large-scale infrastructure projects are moving forward in Latin America, creating the conditions theorized by the ‘evolutionary theory of land rights’ (ETLR) for the shift from communal to private individual tenure. This however assumes a clear distinction between communal and private individual tenure that avoids ambiguities such as those arising from contrasts between de jure tenure rights and de facto practices. We take up these issues by focusing on northern Bolivia, an ambiguous case because groups of families with individual land claims recently received communal titles as ‘independent communities’. This has occurred in areas near a major market integration initiative, the Inter-Oceanic Highway, which has recently been paved. We draw on a survey of households in putatively communal lands in northern Bolivia to evaluate the claims of the ETLR concerning regional integration and formalization of private claims and its consequences. We find evidence of practices consistent with private individual tenure, but they are not related to market integration. Further, indications of formalization of private individual rights do not lead to the outcomes anticipated by the ETLR. These findings call for additional comparative work on integration and tenure.
Research into land and social-ecological systems science could benefit from improved clarity in the terminology used for causal analysis and a structured way to make causal inferences. Here I identify two aspects of causality, i.e. causal effects and causal mechanisms, and discuss explanation in historical sciences. I then propose definitions for the major terms used for causal relations, including driver, (spatial) determinant, location and contextual factor, proximate and underlying factors. Finally, I discuss the contribution of various operational approaches, including time series and counterfactual approaches for assessing causal effects and process-tracing approaches for establishing causal mechanisms. Having a coherent concept of causality, agreeing on a precise vocabulary and harnessing our tools with the clear purpose of establishing both causal effects and causal mechanisms should strengthen causal explanations for single cases, for drawing policy-relevant lessons and for theoretical development in relation to land and, more broadly, social-ecological systems processes.
Land use change is influenced by a complexity of drivers that transcend spatial, institutional and temporal scales. The analytical framework of telecoupling has recently been proposed in land system science to address this complexity, particularly the increasing importance of distal connections, flows and feedbacks characterising change in land systems. This framework holds important potential for advancing the analysis of land system change. In this article, we review the state of the art of the telecoupling framework in the land system science literature. The article traces the development of the framework from teleconnection to telecoupling and presents two approaches to telecoupling analysis currently proposed in the literature. Subsequently, we discuss a number of analytical challenges related to categorisation of systems, system boundaries, hierarchy and scale. Finally, we propose approaches to address these challenges by looking beyond land system science to theoretical perspectives from economic geography, social metabolism studies, political ecology and cultural anthropology.
Major integration initiatives such as large-scale infrastructure projects are moving forward in Latin America, creating the conditions theorized by the 'evolutionary theory of land rights' (ETLR) for the shift from communal to private individual tenure. This however assumes a clear distinction between communal and private individual tenure that avoids ambiguities such as those arising from contrasts between de jure tenure rights and de facto practices. We take up these issues by focusing on northern Bolivia, an ambiguous case because groups of families with individual land claims recently received communal titles as 'independent communities'. This has occurred in areas near a major market integration initiative, the Inter-Oceanic Highway, which has recently been paved. We draw on a survey of households in putatively communal lands in northern Bolivia to evaluate the claims of the ETLR concerning regional integration and formalization of private claims and its consequences. We find evidence of practices consistent with private individual tenure, but they are not related to market integration. Further, indications of formalization of private individual rights do not lead to the outcomes anticipated by the ETLR. These findings call for additional comparative work on integration and tenure. © content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Initiatives for global economic integration increasingly prioritize new infrastructure in relatively remote regions. Such
regions have relatively intact ecosystems and provide valuable ecosystem services, which has stimulated debates over the wisdom
of new infrastructure. Most prior research on infrastructure impacts highlights economic benefits, ecological damage, or social
conflicts. We suggest a more integrative approach to regional integration by appropriating the concepts of connectivity from
transport geography and social–ecological resilience from systems ecology. Connectivity offers a means of observing the degree
of integration between locations, and social–ecological resilience provides a framework to simultaneously consider multiple
consequences of regional integration. Together, they offer a spatial analysis of resilience that considers multiple dimensions
of infrastructure impacts. Our study case is the southwestern Amazon, a highly biodiverse region which is experiencing integration
via paving of the Inter-Oceanic Highway. Specifically, we focus on the “MAP” region, a tri-national frontier where Bolivia,
Brazil, and Peru meet and which differs in the extent of highway paving. We draw on a tri-national survey of more than 100
resource-dependent rural communities across the MAP frontier and employ indicators for multiple dimensions of connectivity
and social–ecological resilience. We pursue a comparative analysis among regions and subregions with differing degrees of
community connectivity to markets in order to evaluate their social–ecological resilience. The findings indicate that connectivity
and resilience have a multifaceted relationship, such that greater community connectivity corresponds to greater resilience
in some respects but not others. We conclude by noting how our findings integrate those from heretofore largely disparate
literatures on infrastructure. The integration of transport geography with resilience thought thus stands to advance the study
of infrastructure impacts.
Roads are a widespread and increasing feature of most landscapes. We reviewed the scientific literature on the ecological effects of roads and found support for the general conclusion that they are associated with negative effects on biotic integrity in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Roads of all kinds have seven general effects: mortality from road construction, mortality from collision with vehicles, modification of animal behavior, alteration of the physical environment, alteration of the chemical environment, spread of exotics, and increased use of areas by humans. Road construction kills sessile and slow-moving organisms, injures organisms adjacent to a road, and alters physical conditions beneath a road. Vehicle collisions affect the demography of many species, both vertebrates and invertebrates; mitigation measures to reduce roadkill have been only partly successful. Roads alter animal behavior by causing changes in home ranges, movement, reproductive success, escape response, and physiological state. Roads change soil density, temperature, soil water content, light levels, dust, surface waters, patterns of runoff, and sedimentation, as well as adding heavy metals (especially lead), salts, organic molecules, ozone, and nutrients to roadside environments. Roads promote the dispersal of exotic species by altering habitats, stressing native species, and providing movement corridors. Roads also promote increased hunting, fishing, passive harassment of animals, and landscape modifications. Not all species and ecosystems are equally affected by roads, but overall the presence of roads is highly correlated with changes in species composition, population sizes, and hydrologic and geomorphic processes that shape aquatic and riparian systems. More experimental research is needed to complement post-hoc correlative studies. Our review underscores the importance to conservation of avoiding construction of new roads in roadless or sparsely roaded areas and of removal or restoration of existing roads to benefit both terrestrial and aquatic biota.
Resumen: Las carreteras son una característica predominante y en incremento de la mayoría de los paisajes. Revisamos la literatura científica sobre los efectos ecológicos de las carreteras y encontramos sustento para la conclusión general de que las carreteras están asociadas con efectos negativos en la integridad biótica tanto de ecosistemas terrestres como acuáticos. Las carreteras de cualquier tipo ocasionan siete efectos generales: mortalidad ocasionada por la construcción de la carretera; mortalidad debida a la colisión con vehículos; modificaciones en la conducta animal; alteración del ambiente físico; alteración del ambiente químico; dispersión de especies exóticas e incremento en el uso de áreas por humanos. La construcción de carreteras elimina a organismos sésiles y a organismos de lento movimiento, lesiona a organismos adyacentes a la carretera y altera las condiciones físicas debajo ella misma. Las colisiones con vehículos afectan la demografía de muchas especies tanto de vertebrados como invertebrados; las medidas de mitigación para reducir la pérdida de animales por colisiones con vehículos han sido exitosas solo de manera parcial. Las carreteras alteran la conducta animal al ocasionar cambios en el rango de hogar, movimientos, éxito reproductivo, respuesta de escape y estado fisiológico. Las carreteras cambian la densidad del suelo, temperatura, contenido de agua en el suelo, niveles de luz, polvo, aguas superficiales, patrones de escurrimiento y sedimentación, además de agregar metales pesados (especialmente plomo), sales, moléculas orgánicas, ozono y mutrientes a los ambientes que atraviesan. Las carreteras promueven la dispersión de especies exóticas al alterar los hábitats, al estresar a las especies nativas y proveer corredores para movimiento. Las carreteras también promueven el incremento de la caza y la pesca, el hostigamiento pasivo de animales y modificaciones del paisaje. No todas las especies ni todos los ecosistemas son afectados por las carreteras de igual forma, pero en general la presencia de carreteras está altamente correlacionada con cambios en la composición de especies, los tamaños poblacionales y los procesos hidrológicos y geomorfológicos que afectan a la estructura de sistemas acuáticos y reparios. Se necesita más investigación experimental para complementar estudios correlativos post-hoc. Nuestra revisión hace énfasis en que en trabajos de conservación es importante evitar la construcción de nuevas carreteras en áreas carentes de ellas o en áreas con pocas carreteras, además de remover o restaurar carreteras existentes con la finalidad de beneficiar tanto a la biota acuática como la terrestre.
Formalisation of property rights has recently been proposed as a way of reducing poverty. The poor, it is said, do not lack assets, they lack only the formal, protected rights necessary to make these assets engines of entrepreneurship, thriving markets, and information networks. Historical evidence with regard to formalisation programmes is, however, mixed at best, and current universalist proposals contain numerous flaws. A more context-specific and flexible approach is needed, with greater attention to local settings and specific objectives and tools. Property formalisation should not be considered merely a technical tool but must take account of politics and culture.
This paper seeks to understand how the Brazilian Amazon, which many thought unsuitable for agricultural development, has yielded to a dynamic cattle economy in only a few decades. It does so by embedding the Thunian model of location rents within the regime of capital accumulation that has driven the Brazilian economy since the mid-20th century. The paper addresses policies that have created location rents in Amazônia, the effect of these rents on land managers, and the spatial implications of their behavior on forests. Thus, the paper connects macro-processes and structures to agents on the ground, in providing a political ecological explanation relevant to land change science. The policy discussion focuses on reductions in transportation costs, improvements in animal health, and monetary and trade reforms. To illustrate the impact of policy, the paper presents data on the geography of Amazonian herd expansion, on the growth of Amazonian exports, and on the profitability of the region’s cattle economy. It follows the empirical presentation with more abstract consideration of the spatial relations between cattle ranching and soy farming, and implications for deforestation. The paper concludes on a speculative note by considering the likelihood of forest transition in the region, given the transformation of Amazônia into a global resource frontier.
We provide a complete characterization of the set of Markov-Perfect Equilibrium (MPE) of dynamic common-property resource games a la Levhari and Mirman (1980). We find that all MPE of such games exhibit remarkably regular dynamic behavior. Surprisingly, however, and despite their memoryless nature, MPE need not result in a "tragedy of the commons", i.e., overexploitation of the resource relative to the first-best solutions. We show through an example that MPE could, in fact, lead to the reverse phenomenon of underexploitation of the resource. Nonetheless, we demonstrate that, in payoff space, MPE are always suboptimal.
In agrarian societies land serves as the main means not only for generating a livelihood but often also for accumulating wealth and transferring it between generations. How land rights are assigned therefore determines households'ability to generate subsistence and income, their social and economic status (and in many cases their collective identity), their incentive to exert nonobservable effort and make investments, and often their ability to access financial markets or to make arrangements for smoothing consumption and income. With imperfections in other markets, the institutions governing the allocation of land rights and the functioning of land markets will have implications for overall efficiency as well as equity. The authors examine how property rights in land evolve from a situation of land abundance. They discuss factors affecting the costs and benefits of individual land rights and highlight the implications of tenure security for investment incentives. They also review factors affecting participation in land sales and rental markets, particularly the characteristics of the agricultural production process, labor supervision cost, credit access, the risk characteristics of an individual's asset portfolio, and the transaction costs associated with market participation. These factors will affect land sales and rental markets differently. Removing obstacles to the smooth functioning of land rental markets and taking measures to enhance potential tenants'endowments and bargaining power can significantly increase both the welfare of the poor and the overall efficiency of resource allocation. Drawing on their conceptual discussion, the authors draw policy conclusions about the transition from communal to individual and more formal land rights, steps that might be taken to improve the functioning of land sales and rental markets, and the scope for redistributive land reform.
This paper presents a survey of recent research on the economics of infrastructure in developing countries. Energy, transport, telecommunications, water and sanitation are considered. The survey covers two main set of issues: the linkages between infrastructure and economic growth (at the economy-wide, regional and sectoral level) and the composition, sequencing and efficiency of alternative infrastructure investments, including thearbitrage between new investments and maintenance expenditures; OPEX and CAPEX, and public versus private investment. Following the introduction, section 2 discusses the theoretical foundations (growth theory and new economic geography). Section 3 assesses the analysis of 140 specifications from 64 recent empirical papers-examining type of data used, level of aggregation, econometric techniques and nature of the sample-and discusses both the macro-econometric and micro-econometric contributions of these papers. Finally section 4 discusses directions for future research and suggests priorities in data development.
This article explores the nature of property rights systems, their evolution, and their effect on resource allocation. It is argued that certain institutional arrangements of land rights have evolved in order to reduce uncertainty and increase efficiency in credit as well as in land markets. Of particular relevance to developing countries, the article emphasizes the contribution of public sector infrastructure to effective land rights systems. An appendix to the article presents a formal model analyzing the effects of security of land rights on land prices, the intensity of cultivation, and the use of credit. Empirical evidence from Thailand supports several of the propositions derived from the model. Copyright 1991 by Oxford University Press.
A new study mapped 2 decades of deforestation in the Amazon and concluded that some types of land management are more effective than others.
The Amazon, the world’s largest rain forest, is the last frontier in Brazil. The settlement of large and small farmers, squatters, miners, and loggers in this frontier during the past thirty years has given rise to violent conflicts over land as well as environmental duress. Titles, Conflict, and Land Use examines the institutional development involved in the process of land use and ownership in the Amazon and shows how this phenomenon affects the behavior of the economic actors. It explores the way in which the absence of well-defined property rights in the Amazon has led to both economic and social problems, including lost investment opportunities, high costs in protecting claims, and violence. The relationship between land reform and violence is given special attention. The book offers an important application of the New Institutional Economics by examining a rare instance where institutional change can be empirically observed. This allows the authors to study property rights as they emerge and evolve and to analyze the effects of Amazon development on the economy. In doing so they illustrate well the point that often the evolution of economic institutions will not lead to efficient outcomes. This book will be important not only to economists but also to Latin Americanists, political scientists, anthropologists, and scholars in disciplines concerned with the environment.
This article reviews the current status, trends and challenges of land system science in Latin America. We highlight the advances in the conceptualization, analysis and monitoring of land systems. These advances shift from a focus on the relationships between forests and other land uses to include a greater diversity of land cover and land-use types and the processes and interactions that link them. We then provide a biome-level typology of social-ecological land systems (SELS) as an approach to help connect local-level realities to regional processes and we discuss how this approach can help to design more socially inclusive land systems. We also discuss the increased role of distant socio-economic and ecological interactions that connect these SELS to global processes. Combined, these insights support a research agenda for land system science in the region that can develop more accurate and integrative monitoring of land change and their social and ecological consequences, better understand different stakeholder perspectives within a context of livelihood diversification, and encourage institutional feedbacks to govern land systems influenced by distant drivers.
The relationships of regional integration, land tenure and land use have all received substantial previous attention. Nonetheless, existing theoretical frameworks tend to presume ideal types of land tenure in understanding the impacts of regional integration on change in institutions and land use. We therefore evaluate the evolutionary theory of land rights (ETLR) for the case of Madre de Dios, Peru. This is a useful case since tenure for agricultural lands is private individual as the ETLR theorizes, but other characteristics, such as the presence of forest extractivism, depart from the assumptions of the ETLR. We pursue a multi-step analysis of key relationships of the ETLR, focusing particularly on the linkages between highway paving as an indicator of regional integration, titling as a measure of tenure formality, multiple indicators of land market engagement, and land uses with diverse ramifications for ecological sustainability. Findings for the different steps partially support the ETLR for the case of Madre de Dios. Disconfirmation however sometimes occurs due to geographic accidents rather than due to truly contrasting findings. We conclude by discussing the need to identify characteristics of empirical cases that do and do not fit the expectations of theories in order to better evaluate the applicability of theory for analysis and policy.
The research and scientific community is of two opinions on the subject of extractive reserves, or protected forest areas managed by forest peoples. Some researchers hold that extractive reserves are a promising example of sustainable development for tropical forest areas, whereas others argue that economic problems with the extraction non-timber forest products will make extractive reserves economically inviable. This paper examines the importance of land tenure and distribution of wealth to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, and suggests that extractive reserves can help address underlying causes of deforestation. The paper analyzes social costs of unsustainable frontier development typically left out of consideration in discussion of economic viability of the reserves-land conflicts, rural violence, rural-to-urban migration, and governmental expenditure in response to migration. The case of the western Amazon state of Acre is discussed in detail, to demonstrate the social and environmental problems that extractive reserves are intended to address. -Author
Today, global land use is affected by a variety of factors, including urbanization and the growing interconnectedness of economies and markets. This book examines the challenges and opportunities we face in achieving sustainable land use in the twenty-first century. While land resources remain finite, the global population is projected to reach ten billion by the end of the century, bringing issues of ethics and fairness to center stage. Who should decide how land is used? Where does competition for land occur, and why? Moreover, accelerating globalization, increasing demand for animal protein in our diets, the need for new sources of energy, and the global scarcity of land have led to a decoupling of land use and local control, which raises issues of governance. The contributors, from a range of disciplines and countries, present new analytical perspectives and tools for understanding key issues in global land use. The chapters consider such topics as food production and land use; case studies of urbanization and agriculture in Brazil and China; telecoupling and connections to distant places; emerging institutions of land-use governance; public and private regulation of land use; uniquely urban issues of land use; and future steps to sustainability. © 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.
This 222-page book is part of ''Global Change - The IGBP Series'', and this volume discusses land-use and land cover change, with respect to the effects on local processes and global impacts. This book presents recent estimates of the rates in changes of major land classes such as forests, cropland and pasture. The book contains 8 individually-authored chapters, each of which is internally structured into more specific sections and subsections within the chapter scope. The first chapter provides an introduction to local processes with global impacts. Chapter 2 discusses global land cover change in terms of recent progress and remaining challenges, and chapter 3 concentrates on the causes and trajectories of land use/cover change. Remaining chapter topics include: multiple impacts of land use/cover change; modeling land use and land cover change; searching for the future of land, and scenarios from the local to the global scale; and linking land change science and policy, and current lessons and future integration. The final chapter provides a conclusion written by the Scientific Steering Committee of the Land-Use/Cover Change (LUCC) project. All of the references used are included together after the final chapter, and this reference list is followed by an index. The text is written in English, and the book is illustrated with 44 figures, 19 of which are in color. This book will appeal to environmental scientists, ecologists, conservationists, and anyone with an interest in or dealing with the land-related issues of global environmental change.
This article examines socioeconomic and land use changes associated with the ongoing, rapid economic integration of Petén, Guatemala, which has resulted mainly through road improvements. The study is based primarily on fieldwork conducted by the author before (1998) and after (2005) access roads were paved, greatly reducing travel times to and from the region. Petén's farmers now must compete with larger, more efficient, and often subsidized producers elsewhere in the country and beyond, whereas large-scale commercial farmers and ranchers are flocking to the region because of its improved access and other factors. Household survey data from one agriculturally important area indicate that most households have become poorer and their farming systems less diverse and that the concentration of land and wealth is intensifying. Results suggest that infrastructure aimed at enhancing economic integration can marginalize the majority in a previously remote region, particularly when little is done to support residents' ability to compete economically.
There is a certain style of analysis of the process of rural development which posits a unilinear process in which the ‘penetration’ of capital into areas in which petty commodity production predominates inevitably leads to the separation of direct producers from their means of production, that is, the land, and their subsequent transformation into agricultural or urban wage labourers. This approach assumes no previous articulation with capital, thus denying the heterogeneity of relations between so‐called pre‐capitalist and capitalist social formations. In addition, the form and trajectory of the transformation process are seen to be predetermined by the laws of the reproduction of capital. This article will discuss the struggle for land in the State of Acre in the Brazilian Amazon. It will argue that the outcome of this and similar struggles cannot be simply ‘read off from economic laws, but depends upon a combination of economic, political and socio‐ecological factors that vary through time and space.
Patterns in property values provide strong signals about the future and sustainability of land use. This paper analyzes the determinants of land value in an Amazonian frontier settlement. We estimate hedonic price functions to identify factors that affect the value of farm properties in the western Brazilian Amazon. Distance to market explains nearly one-third of the variation in farm value, as predicted by the von Thünen model. After controlling for location relative to the central market and for municipality, we find that investment in the farms (as reflected in the stocking rate of pastures and the establishment of home gardens) has the next largest impact on land value. The value per hectare of land is negatively related to total lot size, suggesting that any economies of scale are outweighed by the cost of accessing remote corners of large properties. We do not find that land values are related to available measures of biophysical factors or to historic or current land use. Our results do not identify any premium for forest cover or for land uses considered to be more sustainable than pasture on the property itself. However, farm values are affected by neighboring land cover, specifically, the extent of barren land. Thus, local knowledge of factors contributing to future productivity, as summarized in land values, confirms that soil exhaustion can lead to a general decline in property values, while investments in a property both as a homestead and as a farm can help sustain frontier settlements.
Based on 15 years of research in Brazil, this book is an interdisciplinary documentation and analysis of the process of frontier change in one region of the Brazilian Amazon, the southern region of the state of Para. The authors' analysis was based on the idea that what they documented in the field - deforestation, settlement patterns, and the intensity of rural violence, for example - were the outcomes of the competition for resources among social groups capable of mobilizing varying degrees of power. The analysis of these contests illustrates how national and international factors often shaped events at the local level, thereby propelling the story of frontier expansion in different and unexpected directions. Part One focuses on Amazonia as a whole. The authors review the history of the region, and analyze the federal and state policies that set into motion the contemporary process of frontier expansion. In parts Two and Three, they present the results of their empirical work on the evolution of frontier communities in southern Para. Each local history develops the general themes put forth in the first section. The final chapter brings the text back to larger issues of understanding such frontier change, especially in light of the country's anthropological, sociological, and demographic shifts and collisions.
The state government of Acre, Brazil, has integrated ecological, cultural, social, and economic forest values into a comprehensive forest policy to manage Acre's abundance of comparatively pristine forests, while couching specific goals and the processes for achieving them within a broader sustainable development framework. Inspired by the rubber tapper culture and social movement, policy implementation has been advanced with broad support from national and international allies. While these experiments in forest-based development serve as a hopeful alternative to the steady deforestation observed in Amazonia, many long-term ecological, economic, cultural, and political challenges remain for sustaining and adapting these policy initiatives.
A study of decentralization of road administration in developing countries has been undertaken, including a literature review, and field studies in Nepal, Uganda and Zambia. The findings are reported under the headings of: constitutions and governance; policy and planning; financial and fiscal aspects; institutions, management and human resources; operations; and contribution to poverty alleviation. Decentralization of road administration has potential for improving the delivery of rural transport infrastructure services. But the evidence from this study suggests that it is proving difficult to realize fully the expected benefits. Problems include: lack of local government powers to exercise political influence; insufficient financial resources; lack of management capability; and a lack of accountability mechanisms. Limited data also suggest that there is little evidence of existing decentralized systems being particularly responsive to addressing the needs of the rural poor. There is a need for the poor to be involved more actively in the planning, financing and implementation process. Different models for administrative decentralization are described and recommendations are made for approaches likely to be the most appropriate for rural transport infrastructure administration and management. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Economics textbooks invariably describe the important economic choices that all societies must make by the following three questions: What goods are to be produced? How are these goods to be produced? Who is to get what is produced? This way of stating social choice problems is misleading. Economic organizations necessarily do resolve these issues in one fashion or another, but even the most centralized societies do not and cannot specify the answer to these questions in advance and in detail. It is more useful and nearer to the truth to view a social system as relying on techniques, rules, or customs to resolve conflicts that arise in the use of scarce resources rather than imagining that societies specify the particular uses to which resources will be put.
The emergence of Brazilian extractive reserves reinforced the notion that sustainable forest use could play a central role in conservation. Brazil nut is considered a model non-timber product for promoting conservation through use. Demographic studies, however, have demonstrated differential impacts of nut harvest on Brazil nut population structure. Comparing three populations with different forest use histories, degrees of road access, and recent levels of nut harvest, we asked: (1) Are they exhibiting regeneration failure? and (2) Are seedling/sapling densities explained by adult Brazil nut structure, fruit fate and/or overall forest structure? We installed four 9-ha plots in each site to census Brazil nut trees ⩾10 cm dbh, and within each plot, 36 subplots (25 × 25 m each) to quantify regeneration, overall forest structure, and open and closed fruit counts. Approximately 29–55% of fruits was unharvested, and more than 90% of these was opened by scatterhoarding dispersers. Population structure approximated a reverse-J size class distribution, with seedling densities varying from 3.2 to 5.8 individuals ha−1. We conclude that within the current harvest context, regeneration is sufficient for population persistence in our sites, at least over the medium term. The socioeconomics of sustainably managing Brazil nut is the greater challenge, involving interlinked competitive land uses, nut quality, and substantial increases in local income from harvest. Some of these challenges are being addressed in Brazil, Bolivia and Peru, providing hope that this cornerstone extractive species will continue to play a prominent role in the ecological and economic landscape of Amazonia.
On the basis of themes emerging in current debates on rural development in Latin America, this paper develops an analytical framework for analyzing rural livelihoods in terms of their sustainability and their implications for rural poverty. The framework argues that our analyses of rural livelihoods need to understand them in terms of: (a) people’s access to five types of capital asset; (b) the ways in which they combine and transform those assets in the building of livelihoods that as far as possible meet their material and their experiential needs; (c) the ways in which people are able to expand their asset bases through engaging with other actors through relationships governed by the logics of the state, market and civil society; and (d) the ways in which they are able to deploy and enhance their capabilities both to make living more meaningful and to change the dominant rules and relationships governing the ways in which resources are controlled, distributed and transformed in society. Particular attention is paid to the importance of social capital as an asset through which people are able to widen their access to resources and other actors.
Autism has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years, thanks to dramatically increasing rates of diagnosis, extensive organizational mobilization, journalistic coverage, biomedical research, and clinical innovation.Understanding Autism, a social history of the expanding diagnostic category of this contested illness, takes a close look at the role of emotion--specifically, of parental love--in the intense and passionate work of biomedical communities investigating autism. Chloe Silverman tracks developments in autism theory and practice over the past half-century and shows how an understanding of autism has been constituted and stabilized through vital efforts of schools, gene banks, professional associations, government committees, parent networks, and treatment conferences. She examines the love and labor of parents, who play a role in developing--in conjunction with medical experts--new forms of treatment and therapy for their children. While biomedical knowledge is dispersed through an emotionally neutral, technical language that separates experts from laypeople, parental advocacy and activism call these distinctions into question. Silverman reveals how parental care has been a constant driver in the volatile field of autism research and treatment, and has served as an inspiration for scientific change. Recognizing the importance of parental knowledge and observations in treating autism, this book reveals that effective responses to the disorder demonstrate the mutual interdependence of love and science.
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This study assesses the economic implications of land ownership security in rural Thailand. It uses data from this country to rigorously analyze several aspects of land ownership security. It provides both qualitative and quantiative information on the effects of ownership security. The study presents a conceptual model and literature review and is followed by separate discussions on the evolution of land rights in Thailand; the study methodology and the nature of the data; and the credit market. A formal model of land acquisition and ownership security underlies the empirical discussions presented in subsequent chapters on land values; capital formation and land improvements; and, input use and farm productivity. The impact of usufruct certificates is then assessed, and is followed by an analysis of the benefits and costs of land titling. The study demonstrates and concludes that land ownership security in Thailand has a substantial impact on farmers' agricultural performance.
It is widely believed that land tenure insecurity under a customary tenure system leads to a socially inefficient resource allocation. This article demonstrates that the practice of granting secure individual ownership to tree planters spurs earlier tree planting, which is inefficient from the private point of view but could be efficient from the viewpoint of the global environment. Regression analysis, based on primary data collected in Sumatra, indicates that an expected increase in tenure security in fact led to early tree planting. It is also found that customary land tenure institutions have been evolving towards greater tenure security responding to increasing scarcity of land.
Land system science in latin america: Challenges and perspectives. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
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- F M Scarpa
- J P Robson
- I Gasparri
- T M Aide
- A P Aguiar
- . . Brondizio
Boillat, S., Scarpa, F.M., Robson, J.P., Gasparri, I., Aide, T.M., Dutra Aguiar, A.P.,... Brondizio, E.S. (2017). Land system
science in latin america: Challenges and perspectives. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26, 37-46.
doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2017.01.015
Road ecology: science and solutions
- R T T Forman
- D Sperling
- J A Bisonette
- A P Clevenger
- C D Cutshall
- V H Dale
- . . Winter
Forman, R.T.T., Sperling, D., Bisonette, J.A., Clevenger, A.P., Cutshall, C.D., Dale, V.H.,... Winter, T.C. (2003). Road
ecology: science and solutions. Washington, DC: Island Press.
From teleconnection to telecoupling: Taking stock of an emerging framework in land system science
- C Friis
- J Østergard Nielsen
- I Otero
- H Haberl
- J Niewöhner
- P Hostert
Friis, C., Østergard Nielsen, J., Otero, I., Haberl, H., Niewöhner, J., & Hostert, P. (2016). From teleconnection to
telecoupling: Taking stock of an emerging framework in land system science. Journal of Land Use Science, 11(2),
131-153. doi:10.1080/1747423X.2015.1096423
Approaches and terminology for causal analysis in land systems science
- P Meyfroit
Meyfroit, P. (2016). Approaches and terminology for causal analysis in land systems science. Journal of Land Use
Science, 11, 501-522. doi:10.1080/1747423X.2015.1117530