The remaining Atlantic Forest fragments are structurally isolated by a matrix of pastures, plantations, or urban areas, and most remnants are small (

This paper investigates the changing relationship between land, citizenship, and power in Brazil, where land-related policies have historically served to situate political and economic rights in the hands of an elite land-owning minority. In response, contemporary grassroots movements in Brazil…

The erosion of soil from subsistence agricultures on lands with steep slopes and shallow soil is poorly documented, particularly in Brazil. This paper details the hydrological and soil loss responses to traditional agriculture (shifting agriculture) of a steeply sloped sector (32° incline)…

Under the Convention on Biological Diversity, the world's governments set a goal of protecting 10% of all ecological regions by 2010. We evaluated progress toward that goal for the world's major terrestrial biomes, realms, and ecoregions. Total land area under any legal protection has…

The governments of Brazil and India are planning a large expansion of bioethanol and biodiesel production in the next decade. Considering that limitation of suitable land and/or competition with other land uses might occur in both countries, assessments of potential crop productivity can…

Several studies in the recent past have offered a contrasting and wide range of perspectives on economic and environmental implications of biofuels. In this study we develop a comprehensive and consistent framework for analyzing the global economic interactions and the direct and indirect…

There is widespread recognition that forestry carbon credits can reduce the net emissions of carbon into the atmosphere. Designing systems to sequester carbon, however, has proven difficult due to a number of efficiency issues, including leakage. Leakage occurs when policy makers develop carbon…

Recent increases in the price of oil have generated much interest in biofuel development but the social and environmental impacts of large scale adoption of biofuels at both regional and national scales remain understudied, especially in developing economies. Although the recent swings in prices…

This study adopts an institutional approach to analyze the way in which informal rules, in their interaction with formal rules, shape the use of forest resources by diverse types of smallholders and communities (i.e., indigenous people, agro-extractive and traditional communities) in Latin…