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Socioeconomic Drivers of Deforestation in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon

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Abstract

Investigations of land use/land cover (LULC) change and forest management are limited by a lack of understanding of how socioeconomic factors affect land use. This lack also constrains the predictions of future deforestation, which is especially important in the Amazon basin, where large tracts of natural forest are being converted to managed uses. Research presented in this article was conducted to address this lack of understanding. Its objectives are (a) to quantify deforestation in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon (NEA) during the periods 1986–1996 and 1996–2002; and (b) to determine the significance and magnitude of the effects of socioeconomic factors on deforestation rates at both the parroquia (parish) and finca (farm) levels. Annual deforestation rates were quantified via satellite image processing and geographic information systems. Linear spatial lag regression analyses were then used to explore relationships between socioeconomic factors and deforestation. Socioeconomic factors were obtained, at the finca level, from a detailed household survey carried out in 1990 and 1999, and at the parroquia level from data in the 1990 and 2001 Ecuadorian censuses of population. We found that the average annual deforestation rate was 2.5% and 1.8%/year for 1986–1996 and 1996–2002, respectively. At the parroquia level, variables representing demographic factors (i.e., population density) and accessibility factors (i.e., road density), among others, were found to be significantly related to deforestation. At the farm level, the factors related to deforestation were household size, distance by road to main cities, education, and hired labor. The findings of this research demonstrate both the severity of deforestation in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon and the array of factors affecting deforestation in the tropics.

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Acknowledgments

This research was partly supported by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research through its collaborative research network: “The Andean Amazon Rivers Analysis and Management Project” (AARAM), Michael E. McClain (Principal Investigator). It was also supported by the Ecuador Project based at the Carolina Population Center (CPC) and the Departments of Geography and Biostatistics at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, in collaboration with EcoCiencia (Ecuador); Richard E. Bilsborrow and Stephen J. Walsh are Principal Investigators on the NASA grant (NCC5-295). Other organizations that supported different aspects of the Project are the Mellon Foundation, the Summit and Compton Foundations and PROFORS (Programa Forestal Sucumbios, in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, funded by GTZ, the German foreign aid program), the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador, and Centro de Estudios de Población y Desarrollo Social (CEPAR). Carlos F. Mena thanks the NASA Earth System Fellowship (NNG04GR12H) that supports his doctoral studies. We also would like to thank Stephen Walsh, Brian Frizzelle, William Pan, William Vickers, and Esra Ozdenerol for providing important data and comments on earlier drafts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 321 Saunders Hall, CB# 3220, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599, USA

    Carlos F. Mena

  2. Department of Biostatistics and Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599, USA

    Richard E. Bilsborrow

  3. Environmental Studies Department, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Michael E. McClain

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  1. Carlos F. Mena
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  2. Richard E. Bilsborrow
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  3. Michael E. McClain
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Correspondence to Carlos F. Mena.

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Mena, C.F., Bilsborrow, R.E. & McClain, M.E. Socioeconomic Drivers of Deforestation in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon. Environmental Management 37, 802–815 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-003-0230-z

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