Spring Semester 2000
Tuesday, January 18, 2000
Dawn
Parker, Ph.D. Candidate,
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University
of California, Davis. "Edge-Effect Externalities
and Location Incentives: The Case of California Certified Organic
Farmers."
Abstract
Many classic examples of externalities are inherently spatial
and exhibit distance dependence -- impacts are severe at the
border between conflicting land uses, but decline in severity
as distance from the conflicting border increases. Examples
include industrial smokestacks, factories whose water pollution
impacts downstream users, and neighbor's cattle which damage
crops in a farmer's field. While researchers analyzing these
types of externalities have acknowledged the spatially heterogeneous
aspect of damages in these cases, the location of both polluting
and impacted land uses has been held fixed in this analysis.
I demonstrate that these "edge-effect externalities"
create incentives which will influence the locations of impacted
land users. The externality creates an explicit distancing incentive
for the land users which can be viewed as an individually optimal
buffer zone. Edge-effect externalities also have important ramifications
for production possibilities in the land-use arrangement dimensions.
Specifically, fragmentation of the economic landscape will lead
to nonlinear declines in production possibilities. The natural
question which follows from these two implications is whether
market forces are likely to lead to patterns of land use which
are economically efficient when edge-effect externalities are
present. I demonstrate, both informally using a one-dimensional
model and formally in the context of a two-dimensional, agent-based
cellular automaton model, that a competitive market will not
necessarily lead to efficient patterns of land use. The motivation
for this failure is the existence of positive externalities
between land users impacted by the edge-effect externalities.
These results motivate empirical analysis of locations and
patterns of production of California Certified Organic Farmers,
who are negatively impacted by potential spillovers from neighboring
conventional farms, including pesticide drift, loss of beneficial
insect populations, and potential contamination by genetically
modified organisms. I motivate the use of landscape statistics
to measure differences between organic and conventional farms
which reflect economic responses to edge-effect externalities.
In general, organic growers have an incentive to farm parcels
which exhibit a lower proportion of borders on which buffers
must be maintained than those farmed by conventional farmers.
Preliminary evidence demonstrates that organic parcels are much
less likely to share a border where a buffer would be required
for certification than conventional parcels. Further, parcels
are shown to differ according to other important geographic
characteristics.
These landscape statistics will serve as explanatory variables
in a limited dependent variable statistical model where the
probability of finding a particular parcel in an organic as
opposed to conventional use is modeled as a function of transport
costs to market, soil type, relative prices, and the geographic
characteristics of the parcel's local landscape. Information
on soil type and transport costs, as well as local geography,
will be derived using the geographic information system which
I have developed for this research project. Results will shed
light on the important determinants of location for organic
farmers and will facilitate robust tests of the importance of
local geography for firm location.
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Tuesday, February 21, 2000
Marcos A. Pedlowski,
Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Brazil. "Amazon
and Mata Atlântica Rainforests: What Can We Learn from
Past and Present to Avoid a Plain Bleak Future?"
Abstract
Contemporary deforestation of the Amazon and the Mata Atlântica
rainforests, two of the most diverse ecosystems in the planet,
began with the settlement of Brazil by Portuguese colonists
in the sixteenth century. However, the Amazon and Mata Atlântica
moist forests faced different degrees of deforestation rates
along the last four centuries due to very different systems
of land occupation. As a result, the Mata Atlântica lost about
90% of its original extent. The remaining Mata Atlântica is
dispersed in a fragmented landscape and still facing high annual
rates of deforestation. At the end of 1998 the estimated deforested
area in the Amazon was around 10%. However, the second part
of the 1990s was marked by extremely higher rates of deforestation
throughout the Brazilian Amazon. In some areas of the Amazon
(e.g., central Rondônia), landscape fragmentation is already
reaching worrisome levels. This situation has raised serious
concerns about the fate of Brazilian rainforests as many authors
have included the Amazon and the Mata Atlântica in the list
of deforestation hot spots in the tropics.
I have been involved in conducting extensive field surveys
in the state of Rondônia located in western Brazilian Amazon
since 1991. These surveys were centered on identifying land
use practices adopted by small farmers and their impacts on
the regional environment. Meanwhile, I have just begun surveying
small farmers living on land reform settlements established
by the Federal government in the northern part of Rio de Janeiro
state. Despite the different ecological and historical settings,
I have found striking similarities in the land use strategies
and socioeconomic constraints affecting small farmers located
in both of these areas. A key resemblance is the pervasive frontier
mentality still present in farmers living in both the Mata Atlântica
and the Amazon. This frontier mentality threatens the rainforests
either as a locus for quick economic gain or as a barrier for
economic development. In addition, governmental policies have
reinforced this view over time with investments that benefit
large ranchers but leave small farmers in a lose-lose situation.
Moreover, areas selected for preservation in both regions are
constantly under siege by squatters, cattle ranchers and saw
mill owners. Meanwhile, the agents that hold the potential to
improve the situation seem to also coincide in both areas. There
is evidence that traditional populations, environmental NGOs
and concerned scientists are beginning to establish meaningful
partnerships in the two regions but comparative case studies
are still rare. Therefore, based on my field experiences, I
argue that there is a clear need of scientific studies that
treat these two ecosystems as part of a single threatened biome.
Finally, unless the existing potential for comparative studies
is realized there will be no real possibility to improve the
chances of stopping destructive land use systems and the chance
of sustainable development in the these two rich biomes will
be thin.
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Monday, March 20, 2000
Melvin Ember, President, Human
Relations Area Files (HRAF); Carol R.Ember, Executive Director,
Human Relations
Area Files (HRAF). "Resource Unpredictability and
War: Cross-Cultural Results and Policy Implications."
Abstract
Results of various tests indicating how resource unpredictability
predicts more frequent warfare in the ethnographic record, and
how socialization for mistrust also predicts more war, but less
strongly. Other results briefly discussed: how more participatory
(more democratic) polities are unlikely to go to war with each
other, and how warfare appears to favor socialization for aggression,
which in turn seems inadvertently to produce higher rates of
homicide and assault. Finally, discussion of policies suggested
by the results that, if implemented internationally and perhaps
even unilaterally, could make for a safer and more peaceful
world in the future.
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Tuesday, March 21, 2000
Dan Nepstad, Senior Scientist, Woods
Hole Research Center & Instituto
de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazonia. "How to Set the
Amazon on Fire."
Abstract
Fire is the greatest threat to the Amazon forest because of
several vicious feedback loops. Fire promotes drought, and therefore
more fire, by releasing smoke into the atmosphere, inhibiting
rainfall. Burning also reduces rainfall by increasing albedo
and decreasing water vapor flux to the atmosphere. Fire begets
fire by escaping into forests, increasing their susceptibility
to future burning. Escaped fires self-perpetuate by burning
agricultural and forestry systems, discouraging landholders
from making those fire-sensitive investments in their land that
would allow them to move beyond their dependence upon fire as
a management tool. These feedback's are discussed in light of
a growing body of evidence from household interviews, field
ecological studies, and regional modeling. Policy alternatives
are presented, including a fundamental reformulation of the large-scale
infrastructural investments planned for the region (Avança Brasil).
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Monday, March 27, 2000
Dan Hogan,
Population
Studies Center - NEPO, State
University of Campinas, Brazil. "Population Distribution,
Conflicting Resource Demands and Quality of Life in Brazil."
Abstract:
The presentation will discuss the tensions inherent in the
conflicting demands for environmental preservation, demographic
and economic development and quality of life, in the context
of a comparison of two river basins in the State of São Paulo.
The Piracicaba-Capivari-Jundiaí Basin is a highly urbanized,
densely populated region (approximately 4 million inhabitants
in 56 municipalities in 1996) 100 km to the north of the São
Paulo Metropolitan Area. Originally covered by the Atlantic
Forest, it is now nearly completely deforested and suffers from
most of the environmental ills associated with contemporary
cities: air and water pollution, flooding of urban areas, inadequate
disposition of solid waste, lack of green space, high levels
of environmental and technological risks and, especially, inadequate
water resources. On the other hand, its residents enjoy one
of the highest levels of living in Brazil. Universities, research
centers, medical facilities, high-tech industry and a sophisticated
service economy are comparable to those of developed countries.
The Ribeira Valley, 100 km to the South of the São Paulo Metropolitan
Area, although roughly equal in size, has less than 10% of the
PCJB population. Its forest has survived thanks to its lack
of development - it is home to the most extensive remnants of
the Atlantic Forest - and it is today the poorest region of
the State, with the lowest education levels, highest fertility
and mortality rates and an out-migration propelled by lack of
job opportunities. To a considerable extent, this lack of opportunity
stems from restrictions surrounding the creation of preservation
areas, a major victory of the environmental movement in the
eighties. This is a classic North-South confrontation, replayed
within Brazil's richest state. According to a recent issue of
Nature, the RV is one of the world's principle 25 biodiversity
hot spots, but the priority given to preservation must be reconciled
with the needs of its population. The PCJB has no hope of recovering
its original forest, but must manage its water resources, plan
its land use and correct past environmental aggressions. Both
regions are problematic in terms of future demographic-economic
development. One of the major reasons for this is that both
regions are strongly affected by the resource (especially water)
demands of the São Paulo Metropolitan Area. The PCJB lost 31m3/sec
of its water in the seventies, when it was diverted to meet
the needs of São Paulo; today, reduced supply combined with
deterioration of water quality have created a critical situation.
The RV is now seen as a potential solution to São Paulo's thirst,
in spite of the region's preserved status. The issues of carrying
capacity, sustainable development, population distribution and
environmental quality may be clarified by the comparison of
such contrasting, interconnected situations.
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Thursday April 13, 2000
Pedro
Jacobi, University
of Texas & University
of São Paulo, Brazil. "Brazilian Environmentalism
in the 90'S: Social Representation and Articulations."
Abstract
Analysis of the process, its turning points since the 80's
and the multiplication of social actors engaged in the promotion
of strategies based on the premises of sustainable development.
Reflection on an agenda that implies increasingly in more participatory
practices involving governance of socio-environmental problems
and the search of articulate and innovative institutional arrangements
that enable the "environmentalization of social processes".
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