Resource information
The report contributes to the debate
surrounding land use in the Brazilian Amazon. It sets the
context by reviewing the evidence concerning the deleterious
effect of increasing levels of rainfall on agricultural
settlement, and productivity. Next, it compares the economic
future of an Amazonian community, under the traditional
"predatory logging followed by ranching" model,
and under sustainable logging. Last, the authors investigate
the potential to create a system of national forests. The
authors make four conclusions: 1) they demonstrate that
increasing levels of rainfall, seriously undermine
agricultural productivity, and sustainability. At the
highest extreme, in the 45 percent of the Amazon with annual
rainfall of over 2,200 mm, only forestry, and possibly some
palm crops, are likely to be economically viable; 2) the
authors assert that in this area of the Amazon, and much of
the transition area (rainfall between 1,800 mm and 2,200
mm), sustainable forestry would provide more stable
communities, and a higher standard of living than
agriculture; 3) the authors conclude that regulatory
competition, and a short local political time horizon,
prevent sustainable forestry from being adapted, despite its
better long-run performance; and, 4) some 10 percent of the
Amazon could be put into national forests, in a way that
would both meet current demand for Brazilian Amazonian
timber, and reinforce the Amazon park system, which is
expected to fully conserve 10 percent of the Brazilian Amazon.
