Latin American Patterns of Deforestation

Abstract

In this concluding chapter to the first part, we leave the global level and explore how Latin American resource endowment and development paths are likely to have affected forest size and management over time. It relates the historical evidence to Latin American thinking on the environment, dominated by dependency theory and the political-ecology school. The current relevance of these approaches is discussed. Finally, a resumé of the region’s two most prominent deforestation debates (Central America and Brazil) is presented.