Globalization, agriculture adjustment, rural emigration, climate change and ecological transition in Neotropical montane ecosystems

GRAU, HR; AIDE, TM

Beijijg, China

Conferencia; Global Environmental Changes: Regional Challenges; 2006

Earth System Science Partnership

We discuss the ecological consequences of land use change in the Neotropical mountains in the context of socioeconomic globalization, based on the review of case studies across the Neotropics. Current market forces are favoring “agriculture adjustment” (i.e. the allocation of cultivated areas in the most productive soils which can be managed as large scale farms), which is promoting the deforestation of vast areas of tropical and subtropical lowlands that are being converted into highly productive croplands. Reduced food prices and the growing availability of off-farm jobs are promoting rural emigration and the abandonment of areas marginal for agriculture; a process that should favor ecosystems recovery in mountains. Case studies show processes of montane ecosystems recovery (ecological transition) coupled with population urbanization and agriculture adjustment in Dominican Republic,  Puerto Rico, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, NE Brazil, NW Argentina and Patagonia. Current demographic and economic trends suggest that ecological transition in the Andes may favor the conservation of biodiversity and other ecological services such as watershed protection, carbon sequestration and recreation activities. Different barriers to ecological transition are identified (e.g. subsidized cultivation, illegal crops, resilient degraded ecological systems). Conservation agencies and governments concerned with the conservation of Neotropical mountains must recognize these important socioeconomic trends to promote land use policies that are coherent with the socioeconomic trends of the 21st century