Explaining the Causes of Deforestation with the Hyde Model (A Conceptual Framework)

Using the Hyde Model of forest land use change and tools of systems analysis, this paper builds a conceptual framework to analyze causes of deforestation. It identifies demand for forest land and resources as the underlying driver of deliberate deforestation. It distinguishes between determinants of demand for forest land/resources and direct causes of deforestation. Demand is an indirect cause which can only lead to deforestation through its effect on other factors (direct causes). The process of deforestation is complex/the outcome of the interplay of different causative factors in which one or a few dominate. The determinants of deforestation are not static as the combinations of factors that cause deforestation change over time and space

Road development in the Brazilian Amazon and its ecological implications

Roads are a distinctive feature in any landscape, with many countries giving 1-2% of their land surface over to roads and roadsides (Forman 1998). However, the ecological effects of roads spread beyond the physical footprint of the network and may impact 15-20% of the land or more (Forman & Alexander 1998). The Brazilian Amazon contains approximately one third of the world’s remaining rainforest, covering an area of 4.1 million km2. The region is highly biodiverse with 10-20 percent of the planet’s known species, it is also one of the three most bioculturally diverse areas in the world (Loh & Harmon 2005), and it provides many valuable ecosystem services. However, the Brazilian Amazon is rapidly undergoing extensive development with widespread land-use conversion. Road development is often perceived as the initial stage of development, opening access to remote areas for colonisation, agriculture development, resource extraction, and linked with these; deforestation (Chomitz & Gray 1996, Laurance et al. 2001, Perz et al. 2007, Laurance et al. 2009, Caldas et al. 2010). As such roads are a key spatial determinant of land use conversion in the Amazon region, dictating the spatial pattern of deforestation and biodiversity loss (Fearnside 2005, Kirby et al. 2006, Perz et al. 2008). Given that roads are a key spatial determinant of land use conversion and that they have extensive impacts on rates and patterns of habitat loss, it is important that we know how much, how fast and where road networks are developing in this globally important ecosystem. In this thesis, I aim to construct models of road network development to help better understand and predict the impacts of economic development in the Brazilian Amazon.Open Acces

A methodology to estimate impacts of domestic policies on deforestation: Compensated Successful Efforts for “avoided deforestation” (REDD)

Climate change mitigation would benefit from Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) in developing countries. The REDD mechanism is in charge of distilling the right incentives for fostering forest conservation with appropriate compensation of foregone revenues, which in turn is related to avoided deforestation (how many hectares of forests are saved). Although any prediction of deforestation rates (i.e. business-as-usual scenarios) is challenging, and any negotiated target is subject to political influence, these two ways have been prioritirized so far. In other words, proposals have focused on a baseline (or cap)-and-trade approach, which relevance is questionable because resulting financial compensations are subject to unfairness if estimations of avoided deforestation are not reliable. Rather than considering overall deforestation (predicted and observed), we argue that a REDD mechanism would gain from linking compensations to real efforts that developing countries implement for slowing deforestation rates. This would provide more efficient incentives to design and enforce suitable policies and measures. The methodology we present to measure these efforts (labeled Compensated Successful Efforts) is based on the rationale that overall deforestation is due partly to structural factors, and partly to domestic policies and measures. This typology differs from others presented in the literature such as proximate / underlying causes, or economic / institutional factors. Using an econometric model, our approach estimates efforts that are (i) independent of structural factors (economic development, population, initial forest area, agricultural export prices), (ii) estimated ex post at the end of the crediting period, and (iii) relative to other countries. In order to illustrate the methodology we apply the model to a panel of 48 countries (Asia, Latin America, Africa) and four periods between 1970 and 2005. We conclude on the feasibility to estimate avoided deforestation using the Compensated Successful Efforts approach. In addition to being conservative from an environmental perspective, this approach guarantees fairness by accounting for dramatic changes during the commitment period.avoided deforestation, REDD, climate change, baseline scenario, Forest

The Micro Geopolitics of (Eco)Tourism: Competing Discourses and Collaboration in New Zealand and Brazil

DVD Slideshow disc of supplementary material available with the print copy of this thesis, held at the University of Waikato Library.This social science, interdisciplinary research deals with 'competing discourses' and 'collaboration'. The thesis examines issues of power in (eco)tourism development as manifested in the discursive construction and positionality of local stakeholders. It then inquires whether collaborative schemes can bridge the various interest groups dealing with nature tourism activities in a way that they can expand social, economic and environmental benefits. The language they use, the context they live in, and their relationships and interactions are systematically deconstructed to unveil possible collaborative models for conflict resolution that can advance the practices of (eco)tourism as well as bring collective gains regionally. The study maps the micro geopolitics that exist in all levels of ecotourism development: in its conceptualisation, design, planning and management. Focusing on nodes of conflict and nodes of collaboration, case studies were chosen in New Zealand and in Brazil that encompass public and private actors in (eco)tourism such as government agencies and small-scale tour operators. The 100% Pure New Zealand campaign, Kuaka New Zealand Education Travel, and Silves and Itacar in Brazil are investigated in depth. The researcher is concerned with the values, perceptions and attitudes of local actors about the role and importance of (eco)tourism as a concentration area for conservationist networks. The author is skeptical about the constructions of (eco)tourism outside the context of local stakeholders that are 'imported' or imposed on them in a way that it increases pre-existing tensions and conflicts. With many cases in the literature showing that (eco)tourism lacks an institutional archetype to deliver all its promises, it is plausible to talk about nature-based tourism instead. However, the claim is not that simple, because ecotourism entails contentious issues; it is a complex activity as one takes it for social inclusion and as a tool for regional economic development. The author advocates that representative collaboration and partnerships can ease the move from destructive to constructive conflicts in (eco)tourism. Ecotourism is a complex activity as one uses it for social inclusion and as a tool for regional economic development. The author argues that the way (eco)tourism has been envisaged demands participatory managing structures such as local environmental governance (LEG) and deliberative associational spaces. One of the assumptions is that '(eco)tourism' can become even more meaningful and functional in its conservationist mission if locally discursively constructed, negotiated, and consensually implemented. For deconstructing the cases, 'critical contextual discourse analysis' (CCDA) was developed. It is a methodological approach and tool used to shed light on textual production (written or spoken), consumption and interpretation, and its influences on social practices within a specific regional context. Social constructionism and theory of collaboration conceptually introduce the case. The author adopted a 'critical realist' stand. In the analysis, collaborative adaptive management, triple bottom line, corporate social responsibility, accreditation programmes, and the importance of environmental education for human attachment to nature are discussed as a background. On the whole, 17 interviewees in New Zealand and 42 in Brazil contributed to this study. Yet, in order to contrast statements on the ground, questionnaires were sent to 37 tour operators in New Zealand. Secondary qualitative and quantitative data significantly added to the investigation, helping to validate or refute preliminary assumptions

The equity and efficiency of incentives to manage ecosystem services for natural resource conservation and rural development Case studies from Lombok, Indonesia and Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Incentives to manage ecosystem services have been heralded as important mechanisms to increase efficiency in biodiversity conservation and to facilitate greater equity in the distribution of natural resources. These interventions aim to control the use of natural resources by altering resource users’ land-use decisions and environmental behaviours. There is relatively little evidence, however, about the perceived benefits and societal values of incentives, and the institutional effectiveness of incentives to alter land-use behaviours to increase compliance. It is also unclear how incentive-based management institutions align with the local biophysical, social, economic, and political dimensions of the social-ecological systems (SES) in which they are implemented. The thesis examines the ways in which incentives are used to manage ecosystem services and their institutional effectiveness to alter landowner environmental behaviours in the complex reality of the world It is important to understand the drivers of land-use decisions and environmental behaviours to implement institutions that can address natural resource issues within specific contexts. This thesis contributes to the discourse surrounding the use of incentive-based management that aim to provide motivation for compliant land-use decisions. The research highlights the need to understand the contextual nature of societal values and institutional processes that drive behaviours and determine the ‘fit’ of natural resource governance mechanisms. The recognition of these values and processes enables sufficient ‘incentive effects’ to be provided that can motivate pro-environmental behaviours. The thesis also illustrates the reality of how incentive-based institutions can function on the ground makes it difficult to clearly attribute outcomes to theoretical assumptions on which incentive-based institutions are designed. Case studies from Lombok, Indonesia and Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso, Brazil were used to illustrate the significance of local participation in decision-making, incentive design, and landowner perception of the benefits of behaviours on compliance outcomes, equity in benefit distribution, and efficient conservation management. A mixed methods approach was used to compare different incentives, which included legal sanctions, religious beliefs, social norms, and economic rewards. The thesis examines institutional function, ‘fit’, and landowner perceptions that can influence compliant pro-environmental behaviours. Spatial analysis, semi-structured questionnaires, key informant interviews, and focus groups were conducted to determine the impact of religious, economic, and customary law incentives on land-use decisions in communities on Lombok. Spatial analysis was used to examine the impact of sanctions in the legal reforms of the Forest Code, Brazil’s forest conservation legislation, on farmer land-use decisions in Alta Floresta. Abstract -ii- This thesis finds that ‘incentive effects’ are strongly determined by landowner perceptions of the social and economic cost-effectiveness of compliant behaviour, and the ‘fit’ of incentive-based management to SES’s contexts and dynamics. Institutional ‘fit’ was greater when procedural justice was perceived to be higher. That was driven by stakeholder participation in decision-making, closer links to existing institutions and social norms, and higher community autonomy over incentives. Positive incentives, like religious values and customary laws, were used to generate collective action for pro-environmental behaviours at local levels on Lombok, Indonesia. This generated greater community cooperation when collective action was built on existing social norms, socio-cultural institutions, and ecological dimensions. Incentives for collective action had less impact when they were imposed by external organisations, did not align to the local SES dimensions, and were only focused on increasing efficiency to control natural resource use. When negative incentives, such as legal sanctions and economic fines, were used to increase compliance with pro-environmental behaviours to protect riparian forests in Alta Floresta, they were found to, in fact, reduce overall compliance. The cost of sanctions and the option to offset illegal deforestation were perceived to be lower than the benefit of non-compliant behaviours like continued deforestation. The ‘incentive effects’ of these sanctions had limited impact to alter environmental behaviours of landowners. The findings of this study have implications for policies that use incentives as mechanisms to alter land-use behaviour. These findings also have clear relevance for PES and incentive-based design. They move PES beyond its theoretical application to meet the realities of the ‘messy’ world in which they are applied. The application of incentives is highly context specific to the SES in which incentives aim to function. This approach includes a need for the understanding of local perceptions of equity and cost-efficiency, and the impact of SES subsystem dynamics. A more integrated SES approach to understand the required incentives of land-use behaviours can enable a greater ‘fit’ of incentive-based institutions to local contexts, which may address environmental issues that can lead to a more sustainable use and equitable distribution of natural resources