Abstract ID: 98

Rural-urban Linkages, Population Mobility and Urbanization in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Recent evidence indicates profound changes in population mobility in the Amazon frontier. Following the earlier large-scale migration influxes from long-settled regions, the most dramatic forms of population mobility under way are currently within the frontier. In particular, more rural households see temporary or permanent out-migration of one or more family members to urban or other rural areas as a way of earning cash income, diversifying risk, and reducing consumption needs. This strategy helps alleviate dependence on farm plots as prices of key products have declined and soil quality declines. The part of this out-migration which is to urban destinations is contributing to a dramatic process of urbanization in the Amazon, which is mostly due to continuing direct migration to towns and cities from outside the region as well as high natural population growth. The part of the out-migration from settler farms which is to rural areas extends the agricultural frontier and the line of deforestation. After a brief overview of migration trends in the larger Amazon basin, we analyze the changing nature of population mobility flows into and within the Ecuadorian Amazon, from the large-scale, inter-province rural-rural flows during the main initial settlement period to the dominance of migration flows within the region, both rural-urban and rural-rural. The former contributes to new forms of urbanization, and the latter to further deforestation. Statistical analyses of data from household surveys of migrant colonists interviewed in 1990 and 1999 provide results that improve understanding of rural-urban linkages in the region, including how they are affected by and in turn affect land use (both deforestation and choice of land use, between annual crops, perennial crops, and cattle raising). In addition, global and national macro-economic factors in Ecuador influence rural household behavior in the Amazon, which in turn affect urbanization processes. We show that it is thus not sufficient to discuss &ldquourbanization&rdquo in Amazon frontier areas without assessing rural changes and their linkages to urban change.

Session:  LCLUC and Human Dimensions - Current and future trends of land-use/land-cover change and agricultural intensification.

Presentation Type:  Oral