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Multidimensional characteristics and deforestation: an analysis for the Brazilian Legal Amazon

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Abstract

The current debate concerning the Legal Amazon in Brazil suggests that deforestation is a multidimensional phenomenon. Many studies have analysed deforestation in this region in the economic and institutional spheres, treating them jointly or separately. However, in addition to including family structure and social aspects, this work seeks to identify the multiple configurations that potentially lead to deforestation. We applied exploratory statistical techniques to analyse the 762 municipalities located in the Legal Amazon and to extract four characteristic dimensions, namely, economic development, family labour farming, property and rural density and openness to trade. One of the main results suggests the logical configuration between high economic development and the number of establishments occupied by squatters, with high rural populations covering 54% of the municipalities analysed, which is highly consistent (84%) with the high deforestation in the Legal Amazon.

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Notes

  1. Rondônia (RO), Acre (AC), Amazonas (AM), Roraima (RR), Pará (PA), Amapá (AP), Tocantins (TO), Maranhão (MA) and Mato Grosso (MT).

  2. Where X is the exports and M the imports.

  3. Additional information on the procedure for estimating deforestation rate information can be found at http://www.obt.inpe.br/prodes and Câmara et al. (2006).

  4. The term "family structure" does not refer to the possible economic activities practiced by families, such as family farming, only to variables such as fertility rate and dependency ratio (see Table 1).

  5. The primary products include products of animal, vegetable and mineral origin.

  6. www.aliceweb.gov.br.

  7. If the variables have normal multivariate distribution, the maximum likelihood method can be applied.

  8. Operationally, the original variables are transformed into fuzzy sets. Software such as Stata, fsQCA, Tosmana, and R are used to compute such set operations. We want to elucidate that the operationally latent factors were transformed into fuzzy sets, that is, the distribution of cases has not changed in factor, but the scale has been “fuzzified” to range between 0 and 1, with the values now representing the level of membership in the set. In this research we have chosen to use the standardised rank transformation because it is a relatively straightforward conversion (see Longest and Vaisey (2008)).

  9. We carried out an analysis of the distribution of the original variables using graphical tools and statistical tests, such as histograms, Kernel graphs, the Q–Q graph, the Shapiro–Wilk test (1965) and symmetry and kurtosis testing. Even transforming the original variables using the Box and Cox method and adding a constant and taking the logarithm, the asymmetric distribution remained for some variables. Thus, the conditions of normal univariate distribution and in particular multivariate distribution were not satisfied, making it impossible to apply the maximum likelihood method. This attempt strictly followed the recommendations of Johnson and Wichern (2007).

  10. The PROMAX rotation was performed alternately and the results were robust to the VARIMAX rotation.

  11. Parsimoniously, this transformation varies between 0 and 1 and does not change the calibration standard of the qualitative anchors.

  12. The number of municipalities describes those that present a score higher than 0.50 in each specific configuration. For more details, see Longest and Vaisey (2008).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the support of Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), José Lourenço Kelmer Street, Campus Universitário, Juiz de Fora, MG, 36036-330, Brazil

    Weslem Rodrigues Faria & Admir Antônio Betarelli Júnior

  2. Department of Economics, Federal University of São João Del Rei (UFSJ), Praça Frei Orlando, 170 - Centro, Campus Universitário, São João Del Rei, MG, 36307-334, Brazil

    Rosa Lívia Gonçalves Montenegro

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  1. Weslem Rodrigues Faria
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  2. Admir Antônio Betarelli Júnior
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  3. Rosa Lívia Gonçalves Montenegro
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Correspondence to Weslem Rodrigues Faria.

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Faria, W.R., Betarelli Júnior, A.A. & Montenegro, R.L.G. Multidimensional characteristics and deforestation: an analysis for the Brazilian Legal Amazon. Qual Quant 53, 1959–1979 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-019-00850-4

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