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National and regional determinants of tropical deforestation in Colombia

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Abstract

Global tropical deforestation continues to occur at high rates despite political attention. National-level forest baselines are being established all over the world to guide the implementation of several policy mechanisms. However, identifying the direct and indirect drivers of deforestation and understanding the complexity of their interlinkages are often difficult. We first analyzed deforestation between 1990 and 2005 at the national level and found an annual deforestation rate of 0.62 %. Next, we performed separate analyses for four natural regions in Colombia and found annual deforestation rates between 0.42 and 1.92 %. Using general linear models, we identified several direct causes and underlying factors influencing deforestation at the national level: rural population density, cattle, protected areas, and slope. Significant differences in deforestation rates and causes were found across regions. In the Caribbean region, drivers of loss are urban population, unsatisfied basic needs, slope, and precipitation and four land use variables (illicit crops, pastures, cattle, and fires). In the Orinoco region, crops are the main driver of forest loss, and in the Amazonian region, deforestation is primarily due to fires related to the colonization front. Policy mechanisms will have to take into account regional patterns to successfully balance development and forest preservation in Colombia.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM) for providing the deforestation data maps from the national Colombia REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) project funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and its team members Maria Claudia García, Maria Fernanda Ordoñez, Gustavo Galindo, and Diana Vargas. We also thank the MODIS team for providing continuous access to active fire datasets. Thanks to Carol Franco for her continuous support in data handling. We also want to thank you the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the paper. The research was funded by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia through the postdoctoral position of Nelly Rodríguez and a grant from the CONVOCATORIA NACIONAL PARA EL FORTALECIMIENTO DE ALIANZAS ESTRATÉGICAS INTERINSTITUCIONALES. UN - 2012, Project 12.

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  1. Laboratorio de Ecología del Paisaje y Modelación de Ecosistemas, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Edificio 421, Bogotá D.C, Colombia

    Dolors Armenteras & Nelly Rodríguez

  2. Proyecto REDD, Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM), Carrera 10 No. 20-30, Bogotá D.C, Colombia

    Edersson Cabrera

  3. CREAF i Unitat d’Ecología, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Nelly Rodríguez & Javier Retana

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  1. Dolors Armenteras
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Correspondence to Dolors Armenteras.

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Armenteras, D., Cabrera, E., Rodríguez, N. et al. National and regional determinants of tropical deforestation in Colombia. Reg Environ Change 13, 1181–1193 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-013-0433-7

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