PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/
(Accessed 10 May 2014)

Governance, agricultural intensification, and land sparing in tropical South America
Michele Graziano Ceddiaa,1, Nicholas Oliver Bardsleyb, Sergio Gomez-y-Palomac, and Sabine Sedlaceka
Author Affiliations
Edited by B. L. Turner, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, and approved April 11, 2014 (received for review September 23, 2013)
Abstract
Significance
Tropical South America has forest resources of global significance but exhibits a relatively high rate of deforestation. As agricultural expansion remains the most important cause of forest loss and degradation there, it is important to understand its main drivers. In this paper we address two important questions: How do the quality of governance and agricultural intensification combine to impact the spatial expansion of agriculture? Which aspects of governance are more likely to ensure that agricultural intensification allows sparing land for nature? By distinguishing between conventional and environmental dimensions of governance (which includes also the establishment of protected areas), we investigate which of these two aspects, by interacting with the process of agricultural intensification, is likely to promote land sparing.
Abstract
In this paper we address two topical questions: How do the quality of governance and agricultural intensification impact on spatial expansion of agriculture? Which aspects of governance are more likely to ensure that agricultural intensification allows sparing land for nature? Using data from the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, the World Database on Protected Areas, and the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, we estimate a panel data model for six South American countries and quantify the effects of major determinants of agricultural land expansion, including various dimensions of governance, over the period 1970–2006. The results indicate that the effect of agricultural intensification on agricultural expansion is conditional on the quality and type of governance. When considering conventional aspects of governance, agricultural intensification leads to an expansion of agricultural area when governance scores are high. When looking specifically at environmental aspects of governance, intensification leads to a spatial contraction of agriculture when governance scores are high, signaling a sustainable intensification process.