Dynamics and governance of emerging and active commodity frontiers in tropics

GASPARRI N. IGNACIO; MEYFROIDT PATRICK; KUEMMERLE TOBIAS

Berna

Congreso; 4th Open Science Meeting "Transforming Land Systems for People and Nature"; 2019

Global Land Progamme

Commodity frontiers are areas where the production of market-oriented agriculture and forestry expands rapidly over natural areas or subsistence-oriented land uses, often resulting in profound environmental and socio-economic impacts. These frontiers have been conceptualized as areas with an imbalance between abundant land and natural resources on the one hand, and comparatively scarce labor and capital to exploit these resources on the other. Commodity frontiers are also transition places, where processes of encounter between distinct modes of production and cultures take place, and where conflicts between land-use actors play out particularly heavily. Today, many active and emerging agricultural frontiers are found in the tropics, where some of the last remaining undeveloped landreserves occur, but where environmental and social costs of frontier expansion are typically stark.This session will focus on emerging and active land-use frontiers in tropical regions. It will explore the patterns and causes of land-use and land-cover changes, linkages of these land trends with distant regions of production and consumption, the determinants of decision making of land-use agents, and conditions for transformative governance and land-use planning. We welcome contributions that address questions such as: Where are the emerging and the most dynamic active land use frontiers fuelled by commodities with rising demand? What are the rates, patterns, causes, and impacts of land system changes in these frontiers? How do local and distal agents make decisions, form coalitions, and mobilize to open up and shape new frontiers? How does the concept of frontiers help our understanding of land system dynamics? How do territorial policies such as land-use planning and land-use zoning function in rapidly changing frontiers? How do policy instruments interact with new forms of commodities supply-chain governance? How to improve pro-active governance of emerging frontiers towards more sustainable land systems?