Tropical deforestation – 10/8/03

  1. The ‘facts’
    1. problems with measuring deforestation
    2. Net vs. gross
    3. Rates and amounts between continents
  2. Explanations for deforestation
    1. Proximate causes
    2. Underlying forces
    3. Geist & Lambin’s model
    4. Political ecology perspective: Fairhead and Leach
  3. Case study: Kibale Forest, Uganda

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Study questions for 10/8, DEFORESTATION:

1. Using the case study of Kibale, Uganda, identify proximate causes and underlying driving forces of tropical deforestation. How does the Kibale case compare to the trends identified by Geist and Lambin?

2. Fairhead and Leach charge that "Social science analysis has become the complement to natural science in sustaining policy makers’ views of environmental degradation." Why do they feel this is terribly important? How does their work at Kissidougou defy the traditional discourse of degradation for West Africa?

3. On what grounds do I (LN) criticize Fairhead and Leach’s book?

 

Short answer questions

  1. According to Geist and Lambin, what were the top three proximate causes of tropical deforestation?
  2. What causes emerged in their survey at a lower frequency than they expected?
  3. Geist and Lambin concluded that at any given tropical region, there is an overwhelming, indecipherable web of forces driving deforestation. T/F
  4. In which continent does fuelwood extraction emerge as a dominant proximate cause of deforestation?
  5. In which continent does cattle ranching emerge as a dominant proximate cause of deforestation?