title: Governance, agricultural intensification, and land sparing in tropical South America.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Governance and Sustainable Development, MODUL University Vienna, 1190 Vienna, Austria; graziano.ceddia@modul.ac.at.
authors.forename: Michele Graziano
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Ceddia
authors.affiliation: School of Agriculture, Policy, and Development, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AR, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Nicholas Oliver
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Bardsley
authors.affiliation: Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, European Commission Joint Research Centre, 41092 Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gomez-y-Paloma
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Governance and Sustainable Development, MODUL University Vienna, 1190 Vienna, Austria;
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sedlacek
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods; D000465:Algorithms; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D017753:Ecosystem; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013020:South America; D014197:Trees; D014329:Tropical Climate
keywords: Jevons paradox; deforestation