Is the Interoceanic highway exporting deforestation? A comparison of the intensity of regional Amazonian deforestation drivers within Brazil, Bolivia and Peru
Abstract
The Inter-Oceanic highway is a 1.9 billion dollar project that bisects southern Amazonia
between the triple border region of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia. Many believe that a
project of this magnitude will not only spur the trade of goods and services between
these countries, but fear that Brazil’s appalling deforestation rates will exacerbate
the existing deforestation trends within Peru and Bolivia. By applying remote sensing
techniques and a statistical logistic regression model I was able to depict deforestation
prior to 1989, the increase between 1989 and 2000 and the cumulative effect by the
year 2000, in the area of the Inter-Oceanic highway and other related human infrastructure.
I found that the Peruvian deforestation rates will be exacerbated and, despite common
belief, the Inter-Oceanic highway is not going to be the main culprit, but the secondary
road network and population centers, that the highway will encourage. Furthermore,
I project that the urban explosion of certain population centers will put under severe
pressure the protected areas of Tambopata in Peru and the extractive reserve of Chico
Mendes in Brazil. Finally we acknowledge that countries unique socioeconomic dynamics
can clearly contradict the results of classic Pan-Amazonian deforestation models.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/531Citation
Delgado, Cesar (2008). Is the Interoceanic highway exporting deforestation? A comparison of the intensity
of regional Amazonian deforestation drivers within Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/531.Collections
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