Revisiting the livestock and deforestation interplay in the Amazon: The cases of Uruara and southern Para
Pablo
Pacheco, CIFOR/IPAM, p.pacheco@cgiar.org
(Presenting)
This presentations address some key issues on the relationship between cattle production and deforestation in the Amazon. Looking at two research sites (Uruara in the Transamazon, and Redencao’s influence area in the southern Para), based on 200 interviews to small farmers, and about 40 interviews to cattle ranchers, it will analyze the underlying trends driving the pathways of regional development as result of public policy implementation and markets development. Analysis of remote sensing information for the years 1986, 1991, 1996, and 1999/01 helped to understand the implications of regional development on land-use change, specifically deforestation driven by pasture expansion, and determining the influence that different agents (small- versus large-scale landholders) have on land-use change trajectories, and the emerging land-uses. The presentation will make explicit linkages between land-use change, and the diversity of landholders socio-economic conditions, and their interests for expanding livestock as primary source of income. Intra regional and inter household comparison allows for better understanding of trajectories of land-use change, linked to people livelihoods and regional economic growth.