The potential of rural – urban migration and agriculture modernization to promote neotropical biodiversity conservation

GRAU, HR; GASPARRI, NI; AIDE, TM

Morelia, Mexico

Congreso; Annual Meeting Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation; 2007

Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation

The growing human population and the increase in per capita food consumption are increasing food demand. To balance increasing agriculture production and nature conservation, we must assess the efficiency of land-use strategies. In the Neotropics rural-urban migration is contributing to land-use efficiency by favoring the abandonment of marginal areas for agriculture, and promoting the consumption of agricultural products from modern systems of higher productivity. This process is favoring the conservation and recovery of tropical montane and dry ecosystems in different regions of the Caribbean, Central and South America. In contrast, the growing global demand for food has increased deforestation particularly in lowland ecosystems that are more appropriate for modern agriculture. For example, soybean production, mainly exported to China and Europe, has become the major driver of deforestation in dry forest/savanna ecosystems of South America. We compared land cover/use patterns and human population trends since the early 1970s in two regions with contrasting development pathways in the Chaco dry forests of northern Argentina. The area (c. 13 million hectares) includes one of the largest continuous patches of tropical dry forests and has experienced rapid land use change. In regions where land use has been driven by government-sponsored colonization programs, the expansion of extensive grazing has led to a growing rural population, low food production, and widespread environmental degradation. In contrast, in regions dominated by market-driven soybean expansion, the rural population has decreased, food production is between 300 and 800% greater, and low-density extensive cattle production has declined over extensive forested areas, resulting in a land-use strategy that better balances food production and biodiversity conservation. This study provides examples of how socioeconomic modernization can influence land-use change and have positive effects for biodiversity conservation.