Sparing Land for Nature in the Brazilian Amazon: Implications from Location Rent Theory

摘要

Land change has become a key environmental issue, with special interest focusing on the Amazon Basin. This article addresses Amazonian deforestation by considering two relevant land change phenomena: indirect land use change (ILUC) and land sparing (LS). ILUC, a forest threat, happens when cattle pastures displaced by mechanized crops are reconstituted on forest frontiers. In contrast, LS brings environmental hope that improved farm technologies will release lands to native vegetation. Although discussions of ILUC and LS have arisen in the Amazonian context, theoretical description remains absent, which this article redresses with a location rent model. Using the model, the article establishes conditions consistent with ILUC and LS, then uses them to interpret land change regimes governing Amazonian deforestation. It concludes by noting that market conditions could end deforestation but not leave sufficient standing forest to avoid a climatic "tipping point" and continental desiccation.