Roads: A Proximate or Underlying Cause of Deforestation?
Marie
Scouvart, University of Louvain (UCL), scouvart@geog.ucl.ac.be
(Presenting)
Eric
Lambin, University of Louvain (UCL), lambin@geog.ucl.ac.be
The causal link between roads and deforestation is not clearly established. Are roads proximate or underlying drivers of deforestation? Are they endogenous or exogenous factors to the deforestation process? And do they mostly influence rates or location of deforestation? To answer these questions and assess the specific role and influence of transportation infrastructure development on deforestation, we propose a comparative approach based on local case studies corresponding to situations associated with different impacts of road construction in forested regions on the deforestation process. Our main hypothesis is that, in most cases, roads are only a spatial determinant of deforestation at the proximate level, while the quantity of deforestation is mostly determined by macro-economic factors or national policies. To implement the comparative analysis, we used Ragin's Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). QCA is a powerful technique to reveal causality and understand phenomena because it explicitly takes into account the complexity involved in causal relationships between potential explanatory conditions. QCA was applied based on a dozen case studies from the Brazilian Amazon. Data on the case studies were assembled from the literature and through a formal expert consultation process. This application opens new methodological perspectives in geography and demonstrates the interest of comparing in a systematic way datasets from local case studies. Some theoretical perspectives on the role of roads on deforestation will be discussed. The methodology will be presented, initial results shown and the main policy implications discussed.
Submetido por Marie Scouvart em 17-MAR-2004
Tema Científico do LBA: LC (Mudanças dos Usos da Terra e da Vegetação)