Deforestation and climate change in the Selva Lacandona of Chiapas, Mexico: some preliminary results

O’Brien, Karen

doi:10.1080/00291959508543416

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Forest elimination has also led to (a) soil erosion and increased sedimentation of waterways (Southgate and Whitaker 1992), (b) hydrological and nutrient cycle perturbation (Fearnside and Barbosa 1998), and (c) soil impoverishment (Ehui and Hertel 1992;Weischet and Caviedes 1993;Lal 1996;Saikh et al 1998). Tropical deforestation has global consequences as well, threatening to exacerbate climate change at local (O'Brien 1995;Fearnside 1996;Tinker et al 1996) and global scales (Naughton-Treves 2004), where it has been estimated that 25-30% of climate warming is caused by the elimination of forests in the tropics (Adger and Brown 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farm Households and Land Use in a Core Conservation Zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala

Carr

2008

Hum Ecol

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This paper employs cross-tabular analysis, and multivariate and logistic regression to explore demographic, political-economic, socioeconomic, and ecological patterns of farm households and land use outcomes in an emergent agricultural frontier: the Sierra de Lacandón National Park (SLNP)-a core conservation zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR), Petén, Guatemala. Data were obtained from a 1998 probability sample of 241 farm households, the first large detailed household land use survey in Guatemala's Selva Maya-the largest lowland tropical forest in Central America. Virtually all settler households were poor maize farmers who colonized the SLNP in search of land for subsistence. While they faced similar ecological and economic conditions, land use strategies and patterns of forest clearing varied with demographic, household, and farm characteristics. Findings support and refute elements from previous frontier land use theory and offer policy implications for conservation and development initiatives in the Maya Forest specifically, and in tropical agricultural frontiers in general.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farm Households and Land Use in a Core Conservation Zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala

Carr

2008

Hum Ecol

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“…The use of the concept of 'Ecological Marxism' (O'Brien, 1995) in the analysis of Latin American crises focused on the contradiction between the forces and relations of production, on one hand, and the ecological conditions of production, on the other. It examined theoretically and empirically the tendency of capitalist development to destroy its own ecological conditions of production -the environmental basis for maintaining dependent capitalism -thereby, aggravating economic and social crisis in the long run (Stonich, 1993).…”

Section: Savannasation Narratives/discoursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Examination of Theories on Savannasation and the Peasant-Environment Debate

Yaro¹

2008

West African Journal of Applied Ecology

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The paper examines man-environment relations in the African savanna. It argues that it is important to look at the relationship in a wider dimension involving conceptual frameworks that incorporate the dynamics of rural livelihoods, institutional factors, resource diversity, environmental variability and global influences on local socio-politico-economic landscapes. Land management decisions and investment patterns of diverse peasant representations are reflected in land use changes. Investigating these relationship has moved from the biased technocratic objective assessment of virgin lands and so-called mapping of human impacts to studies identifying the environment as an arena for synergistic interaction between 'man' economics and 'nature'. A conceptual shift to a 'people in places' paradigm allowing the experiences of people in differentiated environments to influence the analyses of social phenomena in savanna landscapes is underway. These shifts in thinking have multiple implications for designing policies for both rural development and environmental sustainability in the Ghanaian savanna. Ensuring sustainable livelihoods through institutions that grant secure and regulated access to resources, provide skills, capital and appropriate technology is key to environmental health and prosperity.

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“…From a theoretical perspective, there are strong reasons to believe that tropical deforestation may affect the climate. Tropical forests influence exchanges of energy, mass, and momentum between the atmosphere and the biosphere, primarily through the albedo, roughness length, and sensible and latent heat exchanges (O'Brien 1996). Deforestation results in an increased albedo (Pinker et al 1980;Henderson-Sellers and Gornitz 1984), a decreased roughness length (Dorman and Sellers 1989), and a larger Bowen value, representing the ratio of sensible to latent heat fluxes (Shuttleworth et al 1984;Nobre et al 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Deforestation results in an increased albedo (Pinker et al 1980;Henderson-Sellers and Gornitz 1984), a decreased roughness length (Dorman and Sellers 1989), and a larger Bowen value, representing the ratio of sensible to latent heat fluxes (Shuttleworth et al 1984;Nobre et al 1991). While the albedo effect is expected to lower temperatures, changes in roughness length and energy partitioning are likely to result in temperature increases (O'Brien 1996). Decreases in evaporation are considered to influence precipitation, particularly over an area as large as the Amazon Basin (Shuttleworth 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tropical Deforestation and Climate Change: What Does the Record Reveal?

O’Brien

1998

The Professional Geographer

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Tropical deforestation is widely believed to directly influence the climate at a number of scales. Yet while much has been written about the tropical forest-climate relationship, there is little empirical evidence showing if and how local and regional climates are modified by deforestation. This study presents the results of an analysis of deforestation and climate change in a rain forest in southern Mexico. Records from 18 climate stations in the Selva Lacandona of Chiapas, Mexico were examined and related to an analysis of deforestation based on Landsat images. The area surrounding some stations has been deforested since the stations were established, while the area surrounding others has remained forested. Strong climatic trends were generally evident at the deforested stations, including decreases in the average daily maximum temperature and temperature range. No precipitation changes were observed. A comparison of the results with microclimatic experiments and modeling studies suggests that the climatic impacts of deforestation are overgeneralized at the local scale. Landscape heterogeneity appears to influence the biophysical mechanisms linking tropical forests and climate, and should be explicitly represented in modeling studies.

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Deforestation and climate change in the Selva Lacandona of Chiapas, Mexico: some preliminary results

Cited by 13 publications

References 29 publications

Farm Households and Land Use in a Core Conservation Zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala

Farm Households and Land Use in a Core Conservation Zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala

An Examination of Theories on Savannasation and the Peasant-Environment Debate

Tropical Deforestation and Climate Change: What Does the Record Reveal?

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