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Regional Socioeconomic Changes Affecting Rural Area Livelihoods and Atlantic Forest Transitions

Author

Listed:
  • Ramon F. B. da Silva

    (Center for Environmental Studies and Research, State University of Campinas, Campinas, SP 13083-867, Brazil)

  • Mateus Batistella

    (Center for Environmental Studies and Research, State University of Campinas, Campinas, SP 13083-867, Brazil
    EMBRAPA, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Campinas, SP 13083-886, Brazil)

  • Emilio F. Moran

    (Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA)

Abstract

Centuries of colonization of the Atlantic Forest biome in Brazil have led its native vegetation cover to be reduced to only 11.7%. On the other hand, regional land changes have fostered natural forest regeneration, since the 1960s, in the region of Paraíba Valley. A fieldwork survey in rural properties was conducted in three municipalities (n = 90, thirty in each municipality), to assess how forest transition is affected by the region’s socioeconomic development and biophysical dimensions of the landscape. To select the municipalities among thirty-four, we applied the modified Thompson Tau technique to detect outlier values for three selected variables: Natural forest cover, eucalyptus plantation cover, and municipal revenue. The outliers were dropped from consideration and the municipality with the maximum value for each variable was selected. Based on the survey and GIS analysis using land-cover maps, topography, and hydrology variables, we concluded that the diminished land-use pressure in the Paraíba Valley, a response to the regional economic development (e.g., increasing labor demand in urban areas pushing rural migration), resulted in the increase of the Atlantic forest cover. Interestingly enough, a counter-migration of people moving to rural areas as a newly valued amenity has the potential to reshape the rural landscape with positive outcomes to the Atlantic forest cover.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramon F. B. da Silva & Mateus Batistella & Emilio F. Moran, 2018. "Regional Socioeconomic Changes Affecting Rural Area Livelihoods and Atlantic Forest Transitions," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-17, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:7:y:2018:i:4:p:125-:d:177483
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. William J. McConnell & Andrés Viña & Christian Kull & Clayton Batko, 2015. "Forest Transition in Madagascar’s Highlands: Initial Evidence and Implications," Land, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-27, November.
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    4. Nelson Mango & Clifton Makate & Lulseged Tamene & Powell Mponela & Gift Ndengu, 2018. "Adoption of Small-Scale Irrigation Farming as a Climate-Smart Agriculture Practice and Its Influence on Household Income in the Chinyanja Triangle, Southern Africa," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-19, April.
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    6. Silva, Ramon Felipe Bicudo da & Batistella, Mateus & Moran, Emilio Federico, 2017. "Socioeconomic changes and environmental policies as dimensions of regional land transitions in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 14-22.
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    Cited by:

    1. da Silva, Ramon Felipe Bicudo & Batistella, Mateus & Palmieri, Roberto & Dou, Yue & Millington, James D.A., 2019. "Eco-certification protocols as mechanisms to foster sustainable environmental practices in telecoupled systems," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 52-63.
    2. Rahmat Aris Pratomo & D. Ary A. Samsura & Erwin van der Krabben, 2020. "Transformation of Local People’s Property Rights Induced by New Town Development (Case Studies in Peri-Urban Areas in Indonesia)," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-24, July.
    3. Yue Dou & Ramon Felipe Bicudo da Silva & Paul McCord & Julie G. Zaehringer & Hongbo Yang & Paul R. Furumo & Jian Zhang & J. Cristóbal Pizarro & Jianguo Liu, 2020. "Understanding How Smallholders Integrated into Pericoupled and Telecoupled Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.

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