@article{Mertens:177798,
      recid = {177798},
      author = {Mertens, B. and Poccard-Chapuis, R. and Piketty, M.G. and  Lacques, A.E. and Venturieri, A.},
      title = {Crossing spatial analyses and livestock economics to  understand deforestation processes in the Brazilian Amazon:  the case of Sao Felix do Xingu in South Para},
      journal = {Agricultural Economics: The Journal of the International  Association of Agricultural Economists},
      address = {2002-11},
      number = {968-2016-75916},
      pages = {26},
      year = {2002},
      abstract = {The Amazon is the largest tropical forest area on Earth,  and has been undergoing rapid deforestation for the last  four
decades. In the Brazilian Amazon, large-scale pasture  for cattle ranching and soybean production are the main  land uses,
leading to a yearly deforestation rate of 0.5%.  These conversions are mostly located in frontier areas  distributed along the
so-called "arc of deforestation".  Within this large zone, various land use change processes  are interacting through several
modes of land valuation and  organisation. From several case studies in the State of  Para (Brazil), the current project aims at
analysing how  landscape dynamics are related to infrastructure  development, ecological conditions, zoning policies and to  the
evolution and the organisation of the production,  consumption and marketing chains of livestock products.  This paper presents
the results for one test site, the  region of Sao Felix do Xingu, South of Para. This region is  the focus of land speculation,
cattle expansion, and  deforestation. Road construction, investments in electrical  energy, financial credit for cattle, and the
land reform  policies have all fuelled this process. All these factors  make this region one of the most dynamic  agricultural
frontiers in the Brazilian Amazon. The main  objective of the paper is to improve our understanding of  deforestation processes
by crossing spatial analyses and  livestock economics studies, and to characterise the role  and impact of various natural and
anthropic factors in the  location and development of the main types of farmers, and  their policy implications.
© 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All  rights reserved.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/177798},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.177798},
}