Milk Cows, Migrants, and Land Markets: Unraveling the Complexities of Forest‐to‐Pasture Conversion in Northern Honduras

Agricultural change and limits to deforestation in Central America

“…Honduras was the only country to experience an overall decrease in pasture land and arable and permanently cropped land during this period. We are dubious of the reliability of these data based on case studies from Honduras describing substantial agricultural expansion (Stonich, 1996;Godoy et al, 1998;Humphries, 1998;Jansen, 1998), though there appears to be recent reforestation in some regions (Southworth et al, 2002). Costa Rica and Guatemala underwent the most agricultural extensification between 1961 and 2001, while El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama all experienced roughly 37% agricultural expansion.…”

Ganadería lechera y deforestación en Nicaragua

“…Dado que aún existen en Centroamérica áreas boscosas desprotegidas y de libre acceso, los esfuerzos destinados a promover cambios productivos son obstaculizados y fracasan en detener el avance de la frontera agrícola en la medida en que persiste el sistema productivo basado en la compra y adición de más tierra a la producción (Tomich et al, 1998). A través de este proceso, los productores capaces de aprovechar las oportunidades económicas que ofrece la exportación de lácteos pasteurizados compran tierra de productores dispuestos a vender y reubicarse en la frontera agrícola, donde las tierra es más barata y pueden adquirir fincas más grandes (Humphries, 1998;Maldidier, 1993).…”

Diversity of Perceptions on REDD+ Implementation at the Agriculture Frontier in Panama

“…(Table 2), and more speci�cally cattle ranching, as one of the main barriers to conservation initiatives. e literature likewise commonly considers cattle ranching as the main driver of deforestation throughout Latin America [32][33][34]. Accordingly, more than half of the respondents from all groups called attention to the de�ciency or lack of technical knowledge in explaining why land use activities oen lead to unsustainable and harmful practices.…”

“…For example, cattle ranching is so extensively practiced that ranchers maintain very low stocking rates (<1 cow ha −1 ) [33][34][35][36]. Over the course of a year, the area needed to keep one cow can even be increased to two or three hectares due to a decline in pasture carrying capacity [10].…”

“…Interviewees, with a single exception, insisted on the "antitree" customs of colonists. is culture is associated with prestige status and an appreciation for extensive cattle ranching or "culture of the pasture" [10,34], which oen leads to massive deforestation. "Most colonists are proud to say 'I am a cattle rancher. '…”