Land use change and agriculture development in Santa Cruz, Bolivia

The department of Santa Cruz in Bolivia makes part of the Amazon basin, and it embraces a large portion of the Bolivian lowland forest, with most of its area covered by semideciduous forest. The agricultural development, and hence deforestation in Santa Cruz, does not follow any similar path of othe...

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Main Authors: Pacheco, P., Mertens, B.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: 2004
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/18971
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author Pacheco, P.
Mertens, B.
author_browse Mertens, B.
Pacheco, P.
author_facet Pacheco, P.
Mertens, B.
author_sort Pacheco, P.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The department of Santa Cruz in Bolivia makes part of the Amazon basin, and it embraces a large portion of the Bolivian lowland forest, with most of its area covered by semideciduous forest. The agricultural development, and hence deforestation in Santa Cruz, does not follow any similar path of other tropical countries of the region, and it is characterized by a productive, high value and profitable agricultural land use. Yet, the agricultural frontier development involving both small and medium and large-scale producers has, since the two last decades, led to an exponential process of deforestation. Forest clearing is currently localized in an area known as being one of the region’s major “hot spots” of deforestation. This paper aims at analysing the dynamics of agricultural frontier expansion in Santa Cruz distinguishing different zones with varied ecological, social and economic characteristics. The three main objectives are to illustrate the magnitude and localization of deforestation in Santa Cruz in a three-fold period, to describe the differentiated dynamics of agriculture frontier development linked to diverse actors and geographical settings within the department of Santa Cruz; and to determine the factors that influence on agricultural expansion at the frontier. This study is based on informant interviews, secondary socio-economic information, and satellite remote sensing imagery integrated in a GIS to facilitate land-use change analysis.
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spelling CGSpace189712025-01-24T14:11:50Z Land use change and agriculture development in Santa Cruz, Bolivia Pacheco, P. Mertens, B. land use deforestation agricultural development socioeconomics ecology geographical information systems The department of Santa Cruz in Bolivia makes part of the Amazon basin, and it embraces a large portion of the Bolivian lowland forest, with most of its area covered by semideciduous forest. The agricultural development, and hence deforestation in Santa Cruz, does not follow any similar path of other tropical countries of the region, and it is characterized by a productive, high value and profitable agricultural land use. Yet, the agricultural frontier development involving both small and medium and large-scale producers has, since the two last decades, led to an exponential process of deforestation. Forest clearing is currently localized in an area known as being one of the region’s major “hot spots” of deforestation. This paper aims at analysing the dynamics of agricultural frontier expansion in Santa Cruz distinguishing different zones with varied ecological, social and economic characteristics. The three main objectives are to illustrate the magnitude and localization of deforestation in Santa Cruz in a three-fold period, to describe the differentiated dynamics of agriculture frontier development linked to diverse actors and geographical settings within the department of Santa Cruz; and to determine the factors that influence on agricultural expansion at the frontier. This study is based on informant interviews, secondary socio-economic information, and satellite remote sensing imagery integrated in a GIS to facilitate land-use change analysis. 2004 2012-06-04T09:09:00Z 2012-06-04T09:09:00Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/18971 en Pacheco, P., Mertens, B. 2004. Land use change and agriculture development in Santa Cruz, Bolivia . Bois et Forets des Tropiques 280 :29-40. ISSN: 0006-579X.
spellingShingle land use
deforestation
agricultural development
socioeconomics
ecology
geographical information systems
Pacheco, P.
Mertens, B.
Land use change and agriculture development in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
title Land use change and agriculture development in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
title_full Land use change and agriculture development in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
title_fullStr Land use change and agriculture development in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
title_full_unstemmed Land use change and agriculture development in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
title_short Land use change and agriculture development in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
title_sort land use change and agriculture development in santa cruz bolivia
topic land use
deforestation
agricultural development
socioeconomics
ecology
geographical information systems
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/18971
work_keys_str_mv AT pachecop landusechangeandagriculturedevelopmentinsantacruzbolivia
AT mertensb landusechangeandagriculturedevelopmentinsantacruzbolivia