The political ecology of land conversion at the tri-national border of southwest Amazonia [electronic resource]
Keywords: Anthropology.

Smallholders have long been blamed for the conversion of large areas of forest. There is insufficient understanding, however, of how development policies and socioeconomic conditions influence smallholders' land use decisions. To address this gap, with the help of research and logistical assistance from numerous individuals and institutions as described in the acknowledgments sections, I conducted a large-scale interdisciplinary research project to investigate land use and land cover dynamics in the 101,463 km2 tri-national Amazonian frontier of Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia. This setting provided a unique opportunity for the study of human environment interactions as it allows the analysis of varying development policies while holding significant variation in biophysical variables constant. For this assessment I incorporated multivariate statistical analysis of national development policies and socioeconomic data from 320 households located across the study area with multitemporal spatial analysis of deforestation and infrastructure development using remote sensing and geographic information systems. The core of this dissertation is comprised of three studies (Chapters II through IV) which each focus on unique spatial and temporal scales ranging from the landscape to the household. Chapter II employs remote sensing data from the entire study area (i.e., the landscape scale) and for the years 1990, 2000, and 2007 to understand the drivers of change in forest cover. This study highlighted the impact of changes underway today in Amazonian frontier regions, such as rapid road development, market growth, and decreasing forest cover. Results showed that travel time to the nearest market dominated deforestation dynamics, with infrastructure development representing decreased travel cost to these markets. Chapter III integrates landscape and household scales to understand the drivers of household landholding size, land use, and rates of deforestation. Results showed that while the areas of crops and fallow forests are poorly explained, the area of pasture was well predicted by the years of landholding occupancy and the household travel time to market. The area in forest was highly correlated with the landholding size and the average travel time to the nearest intact forest. Chapter IV concentrates the analysis at the household scale. Results showed that market access, defined as the temporal proximity to the nearest market, was equally as important as household socioeconomic variables for explaining deforestation. In particular, three clear livelihood strategies were identifiable among the households: crop, cattle, and forest based livelihood strategies. Cattle based livelihoods were stronger for households closer to the market. However, households on all three sides of the border showed reliance on a cattle based livelihood strategy. The proportion of landholding cleared was higher at lower travel times to the nearest market, and for households with livelihoods strategies based on cattle, while households with forest based livelihood strategies had a lower percentage deforested. Results from this dissertation are directly applicable to improving the theoretical understanding of human-environment interactions in dynamic frontier landscapes, as well as for applied environmental conservation and sustainable development efforts in the tropics.