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Begin New Search Topic Deforestation Publication Year within 25 Years

21. Modeling Amazon Deforestation for Policy Purposes

Author:
Clive W. J. Granger and Lykke E. Andersen
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
Brazil has long ago removed most of the perverse government incentives that stimulated massive deforestation in the Amazon in the 70s and 80s, but one highly controversial policy remains: Road building. While data is now abundantly available due to the constant satellite surveillance of the Amazon, the analytical methods typically used to analyze the impact of roads on natural vegetation cover are methodologically weak and not very helpful to guide public policy. This paper discusses the respective weaknesses of typical GIS analysis and typical municipality level regression analysis, and shows what would be needed to construct an ideal model of deforestation processes. It also presents an alternative approach that is much less demanding in terms of modeling and estimation and more useful for policy makers as well.
Topic:
Environment, Infrastructure, Econometrics, and Deforestation
Political Geography:
Brazil and Amazon Basin

22. Small Producer Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Integrating Household Structure and Economic Circumstance in Behavioral Explanation

Author:
Marcellus Caldas, Robert Walker, and Stephen Perz
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
This study examines the impact household structure and economic circumstances on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. It presents the results of an analysis conducted at property level, using both survey data and information derived from remote sensing. Regression analyses and spatial autocorrelation tests are given, following a theoretical development integrating notions of the household economy with von Thünen. The results from the empirical model indicate that social and demographic characteristics of households, as well as institutional and market factors, affect land use decisions. Thus, aggregate studies and spatially explicit models that do not include household information may be subject to specification bias.
Topic:
Economics, Deforestation, Remote Sensing, and Behavioral Modeling
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, and Amazon Basin