land use change and agricultural development in santa cruz ...goods (i.e. rice, cotton and...

Using data collected in the field, interviews, socio-economic information and satelliteremote sensing imagery integratedin a GIS, the authors analyze thedynamics of agricultural frontierexpansion in Santa Cruz.

Pablo Pacheco1

Benoît Mertens2

1 Center for International ForestryResearch (CIFOR)Institute of Environmental Researchfor Amazônia (IPAM)C/o Embrapa Amazônia OrientalConvenio Embrapa CIFORTrav. Eneas Pinheiro s/nCEP 66095-780Belém, Pará, Brazil

2 Center for International ForestryResearch (CIFOR)C/o CIRAD-ForêtCampus de Baillarguet, TA 10 D34398 Montpellier, France

Land use change andagricultural development

in Santa Cruz, Bolivia

B O I S E T F O R Ê T S D E S T R O P I Q U E S , 2 0 0 4 , N ° 2 8 0 ( 2 ) 29BOLIVIE

FORÊTS AMAZONIENNES

Landscape mosaic in the Guarayos zone. Photo C. Colfer.

RÉSUMÉ

CHANGEMENTS DE L’UTILISATIONDES TERRES ET DÉVELOPPEMENTDE L’AGRICULTURE À SANTA CRUZ,BOLIVIE

Le département de Santa Cruz, enBolivie, appartient au bassin amazo-nien. Il contient une grande partiedes forêts boliviennes de basse alti-tude et est principalement couvert deforêts semi-décidues. Le développe-ment agricole et la déforestation n’ysuivent pas une trajectoire similaire àcelle des autres pays tropicaux de larégion. Il se caractérise par une acti-vité agricole productive, rentable etde haute valeur. Toutefois, le déve-loppement des fronts pionniers agri-coles, qui implique des petits,moyens et grands producteurs, aconduit, depuis les deux dernièresdécennies, à une croissance expo-nentielle de la déforestation. Laconversion des forêts dans cetterégion en fait un des « points chauds »de la déforestation à l’échelle mon-diale. Cet article analyse les dyna-miques d’expansion de la frontièreagricole à Santa Cruz, en distinguantdes zones écologiquement, sociale-ment et économiquement trèsvariées. L’objectif est triple : illustrerl’intensité et la localisation de ladéforestation sur trois périodes detemps ; décrire les dynamiques diffé-renciées du développement des fron-tières agricoles attachées aux typesde producteurs et conditions géogra-phiques ; déterminer les facteurs quiinfluencent l’expansion agricole danscette région. Cette étude repose surdes données collectées sur le terrain,interviews, informations socio-écono-miques, et les images de télédétec-tion satellitaire intégrées dans un Sig,afin de faciliter l’analyse des change-ments d’utilisation du sol.

Mots-clés : déforestation, frontière,développement de l’agriculture, colo-nisation, Amazone, Bolivie.

ABSTRACT

LAND USE CHANGE AND AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENTIN SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA

The department of Santa Cruz inBolivia makes part of the Amazonbasin, and it embraces a large portionof the Bolivian lowland forest, withmost of its area covered by semi-deciduous forest. The agriculturaldevelopment, and hence deforesta-tion in Santa Cruz, does not followany similar path of other tropicalcountries of the region, and it is char-acterized by a productive, high valueand profitable agricultural land use.Yet, the agricultural frontier develop-ment involving both small andmedium and large-scale producershas, since the two last decades, led toan exponential process of deforesta-tion. Forest clearing is currently local-ized in an area known as being one ofthe region’s major “hot spots” ofdeforestation. This paper aims atanalysing the dynamics of agricul-tural frontier expansion in Santa Cruzdistinguishing different zones withvaried ecological, social and eco-nomic characteristics. The three mainobjectives are to illustrate the magni-tude and localization of deforestationin Santa Cruz in a three-fold period, todescribe the differentiated dynamicsof agriculture frontier developmentlinked to diverse actors and geo-graphical settings within the depart-ment of Santa Cruz; and to determinethe factors that influence on agricul-tural expansion at the frontier. Thisstudy is based on informant inter-views, secondary socio-economicinformation, and satellite remotesensing imagery integrated in a GISto facilitate land-use change analysis.

Keywords: Amazon, Bolivia, defor-estation, frontier, agriculture devel-opment, colonization.

RESUMEN

CAMBIOS EN LA UTILIZACIÓN DE LAS TIERRAS Y DESARROLLO DELA AGRICULTURA EN SANTA CRUZ,BOLIVIA

El departamento de Santa Cruz, enBolivia, pertenece a la cuenca amazó-nica. Contiene una gran parte de losbosques bolivianos de baja altitud y,principalmente, está cubierto conbosques semicaducifolios. El desa-rrollo agrícola y la deforestación nosiguen una trayectoria similar a la delos otros países tropicales de laregión. Se caracterizan por una activi-dad agrícola productiva, rentable y dealto valor. No obstante, el desarrollode los frentes pioneros agrícolas, queimplica a pequeños, medianos y gran-des productores, ha conducido, enlos últimos veinte años, a un incre-mento exponencial de la deforesta-ción. La transformación de los bos-ques en esta región la convierte enuno de los “puntos calientes” de ladeforestación a escala mundial. Esteartículo analiza las dinámicas deexpansión de la frontera agrícola enSanta Cruz, diferenciando zonas eco-lógica, social y económicamente muyvariadas. El objetivo es triple: mostrarla intensidad y la localización de ladeforestación en tres períodos detiempo; describir las dinámicas dife-renciadas del desarrollo de las fronte-ras agrícolas relacionadas con lostipos de productores y las condicio-nes geográficas y determinar los fac-tores que influyen en la expansiónagrícola en esta región. Este estudiose basa en datos tomados sobre elterreno, entrevistas, informaciónsocioeconómica, y las imágenes deteledetección por satélite integradasen un SIG, para facilitar el análisis delos cambios de utilización del suelo.

Palabras clave: deforestación, fron-tera, desarrollo de la agricultura,colonización, Amazonas, Bolivia.

30 B O I S E T F O R Ê T S D E S T R O P I Q U E S , 2 0 0 4 , N ° 2 8 0 ( 2 )

BOLIVIAAMAZONIAN FORESTS

Pablo PachecoBenoît Mertens

The country of Bolivia comprisesan area of one million square km,around 70% of which is located inareas below 500 m above sea level cor-responding to the Bolivian lowlands,which share a portion of the AmazonBasin. About 80% of the country’s totalforest is located in the lowlands.Historically, deforestation magnitudesand rates in Bolivia remained low byinternational standards until the mid-1980s, equivalent to an annual rate of0.2% of the forested area (Bakker,1993). Nevertheless, the deforestationrates rose significantly from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, reaching a rateof 0.55% (Steininger et al., 2000).This rate of deforestation is evenhigher than the average of the otherAmazonian countries, which is close to0.43% (FAO, 2001).

A major portion of the defor-estation in the Bolivian lowlandsoccurred in the department of SantaCruz, which comprises over a third ofthe total area of the country (37 mil-lion hectares) (Figure 1). The develop-ment of the frontier in Santa Cruzbegan only in the late 1950s, drivenby small- and large-scale farmers

seeking mainly to supply agriculturalgoods to the domestic market, butsince the mid-1980s agricultural pro-ducers have looked for ways toincrease the exports of some com-modities to the regional markets, pri-marily soybeans (Baudoin et al.,1995). The expansion of the agricul-tural frontier, with the subsequentdeforestation in Santa Cruz, hasaccelerated since the mid-1980s as aresult of shifts in the government’smacroeconomic policy and efforts toopen up external markets in order toincrease the contribution of agricul-tural exports to national revenues, aspart of a strategy aimed at restructur-ing the country’s economy on thebasis of some dynamic sectors suchas telecommunications, hydrocar-bons and modernized mining andagriculture (Pacheco, 1998).

The agricultural frontier devel-opment and subsequent deforesta-tion in Santa Cruz in the last fourdecades did not follow a similar pathto that of any other tropical country ofthe region. It is characterized by aproductive and profitable agriculturalland use, related initially to cotton

and sugar production, followed overtime by soybean production. Thisdoes not mean that no areas wereexhausted and degraded, but thatoverall the agricultural frontierremains productive, with high valueproducts traded on the internationalmarket. However, not all producershave benefited equally, and there arestill some risks that make agriculturalfrontier development vulnerable tochanges in external demand and soildepletion (Baudoin et al., 1995).

This paper aims to analyze thedynamics of agricultural frontierexpansion in Santa Cruz, distinguish-ing different zones with varied eco-logical, social and economic charac-teristics. The first section will analyzethe magnitude and rates of deforesta-tion in Santa Cruz, while the secondwill describe the land uses and ruralactors in Santa Cruz. The third sectionwill explain the differentiated dynam-ics of agricultural development anddeforestation and the underlying fac-tors behind them in diverse zoneswithin the department of Santa Cruz.The final section states the main con-clusions of this paper.

B O I S E T F O R Ê T S D E S T R O P I Q U E S , 2 0 0 4 , N ° 2 8 0 ( 2 ) 31FORÊTS AMAZONIENNESBOLIVIE

Introduction

Mountainous landscape in the north of Santa Cruz department. Photo C. Colfer.

Magnitudes and rates

of deforestationin Santa Cruz

The department of Santa Cruzcomprises around one third of thetotal area of the country and 51% ofits forested lands (WB, 1993). By 2001approximately 60% of total forestclearing carried out in the countrytook place in this department (SIA,2001). Historically, forest clearing inSanta Cruz was limited but it hasgrown exponentially in the last twodecades. As recently as 1950 theentire department had less than60 000 ha of cultivated land, most ofwhich was corn and rice. Forest clear-ing slowly accelerated from 1950 tothe early 1980s as a result of govern-ment policies promoting import sub-stitution of agricultural goods, mainlyrice, cotton and sugarcane.

There have been numerous gov-ernment policies seeking to expandthe lowlands agricultural frontiersince the late 1950s and the early1980s, as part of import substitutionpolicies dominant in the whole region.The main policies to expand thedomestic supply of agricultural goodswere: (i) road building to facilitate theoccupation of new frontiers and con-nect them to the main urban con-sumption centers, (ii) subsidizedcredit targeting specific agriculturalgoods (i.e. rice, cotton and sugar-cane), (iii) agricultural price supportsto guarantee minimum profits, (iv)allocation of land through legal andsemi-legal means to medium- andlarge-scale farmers, and (v) supportfor formal rural settlements to facili-tate migration of the labor force to thelowlands (Dandler, 1984). All of thesepolicies encouraged forest clearing.The goals of the substitution programwere achieved in the early 1970s, andafter that time the limited size of thedomestic market, coupled with com-mercial barriers for exporting surplusproduction, became the main factorsconstraining the expansion of thefrontier (Kaimowitz, 1997).

Figure 1. Bolivia and the department of Santa Cruz.



Agricultural patterns in the northern and southern expansion zone.Landsat ETM+, 2000, band composition 5-4-3. Source: University of Maryland, Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF).

By the mid-1980s most defor-estation was localized in the areascloser to the city of Santa Cruz, theurban capital of the department of thesame name, around the area labeled“integrated zone”. This area is con-nected to the main cities of the west-ern part of the country (Cochabambaand La Paz), which constituted themain centers of consumption of agri-cultural goods besides the city ofSanta Cruz (Figure 1). The frontierexpansion was stimulated by anintense process of migration from thehighlands to the north and northwestareas around the city of Santa Cruz, inaddition to increasing investments bymedium- and large-scale establish-ments in mechanized agriculture. Ourestimations, based on INE (2003),indicate that by 1985 the total areacultivated with agricultural crops bysmall farmers in Santa Cruz (excludingpasture) was about 150 000 ha (mostlyrice, corn and manioc), while the totalarea cultivated by medium- and large-scale farmers reached approximately170 000 ha (mostly cotton, sugarcane,wheat, and soybeans).

The situation described abovechanged substantially after the sec-ond half of the 1980s when a programto overcome the economic crisis andto restructure the economy was imple-mented, based on incentives to stimu-late the growth of the export sector.All subsidized credits for the agricul-tural sector were eliminated, settle-ment programs were no longer sup-ported, and price supports foragricultural goods were suppressed.Instead, another set of policies wasput in place in an attempt to promotethe export sector, including measuressuch as the devaluation of thenational currency, fiscal incentives toexports, and efforts to open upregional markets for non-traditionalexports through bilateral and multilat-eral trade agreements (Pacheco,1998). In the agricultural sector, thesepolicies were accompanied by therecognition of ownership rights onforested lands suitable for developingintensive agriculture to the east of theold agricultural frontiers in the depart-

ment of Santa Cruz. These policies,however, favored a small group oflarge-scale producers, both nationaland foreign, which benefited from lowland prices, fiscal incentives and soilfertility (Baudoin et al., 1995) and ledto explosive growth of the agriculturalfrontier (Kaimowitz et al., 1999).

Based on available land covermaps (Morales, 1993, 1996; Camachoet al., 2001), it can be seen that the for-est area in Santa Cruz originally cov-ered about 32 542 000 ha (Table I). Inthe last fifteen years, deforestationrates have risen rapidly. From 1986 to1990 Cumat (1992) found that theAmazonian portion of Santa Cruz lost38 000 ha of forest annually. Thisregion covers 61% of Santa Cruz, butprobably accounted for a higher per-centage of forest clearing during thatperiod. In 1989 the forested area cov-ered approximately 30 951 000 ha.The land cover change analyses indi-cate that from 1989 to 1994 annualdeforestation was 104 500 ha, andfrom 1994 to 2000 it increased to240 780 ha (Figure 2), which indicatesthat forest clearing has tended to

increase exponentially over time in thedepartment of Santa Cruz. There isnothing to suggest that it will decreasein the following years.

The cultivated area grew accord-ingly during that period mostly towardsthe eastern part of the old frontier. By2000, while the total area cultivated bysmall farmers was about 200 000 ha,the area cultivated by medium andlarge establishments reached about700 000 ha, with 80% of this areabeing given over to soybeans (INE,2003). This indicates that importantchanges have occurred in the agricul-tural sector in the last two decadessuch as the increasing role of medium-and large-scale agriculture as opposedto small farmers, and the dominance ofexport commodities in the currentagrarian economy. Furthermore, anunknown portion of deforestation isdriven by pasture expansion in theeastern part of the department as aresult of an increasing and unsatisfieddemand for meat in the city of SantaCruz (Pacheco, 1998). Additional stud-ies are needed to document thedynamics of pasture expansion.

Figure 2. Deforestation in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, from 1989 to 2000.


Land use andmain rural actors

in Santa Cruz

We divided the department ofSanta Cruz into nine zones, followinga classification of Davies (1994). Theborders of the zones were definedtaking into account the type of domi-nant vegetation, the social process ofterritorial occupation and their result-ant socio-economic characteristics(Figure 3 and Table II). The Guarayosarea (zone 1) in the north is coveredby dense forest, while deciduous for-est is the dominant vegetation in theChiquitania (zone 2), and the Chacozone (zone 3) is mostly covered by dryforest. While the deciduous forest for-mations cover the northern and south-ern expansion zone (zones 4 and 5,respectively), these two areas havehigher anthropogenic influence inrelation to the rest of the Chiquitania.The northwest of the department,labeled northwest colonization andcolonization in pie de monte (zones 6and 7, respectively), as well as thenorthern expansion zone, have under-gone greater pressure from small agri-culture, but both differ in terms of thedominant forest formation, which isdenser to the north. The western areaof the department forms part of thesub-tropical valleys with low and openforest (zone 8). The last area, labeledintegrated zone (zone 9), where thecity of Santa Cruz is located, is wherethe agricultural frontier expansionwas initiated.

In 2002 the department hadapproximately 2 million inhabitants,of which about three quarters werelocated in the city of Santa Cruz, theurban center with the country’s high-est rate of population growth. Most ofthe rural population is concentrated inthe agricultural colonization areas tothe northwest and west of the city ofSanta Cruz (zones 4, 6, and 7), whilethe indigenous population is sparselydistributed in large areas to the northand east of the department (zones 1, 2and 3). The zones closer to the city ofSanta Cruz (zones 5 and 9) constitute



Fire and small-scale agriculture in the Guarayos region. Photo C. Colfer.

Large scale agriculture in the expansion zone. Photo J. Johnson.

Table I. Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia: land cover changes between 1989 and 2000.

Land cover change Area Area of change(103 ha) (103 ha.y-1)

Never forested 3 886.67 -

Stable forest 28 984.40 -

Early deforestation (before 1989) 1 590.97 -

Late deforestation (1989-1994) 522.50 104.5

Recent deforestation (1994-2000) 1 444.67 240.8

Total 36 429.25 -

Sources: based on outcomes from Morales (1993, 1996) and Camacho et al. (2001).

the areas where a more intensive agri-culture has been established, mostlyby medium- and large-scale landhold-ers (Table II). The “integrated zone”(zone 9) constituted the main agricul-tural frontier until the mid-1980s, andsince then the “expansion zone” (zone5) has become the most active agri-cultural frontier of the whole country.In addition, extensive cattle produc-tion is carried out in the Chiquitaniaand Chaco zones. Some protectedareas have been established in the piede monte area (Parque Amboro),Chiquitania (Noel Kempff Mercadoand San Matias protected areas), andthe Chaco zone (Kaa Iya and Otuquis)(Tables IV and V).

Over the last forty years thedepartment has undertaken majorimprovements in its transportationinfrastructure that have opened upnew forest areas to exploitation andlinked the region with the rest of thecountry, stimulating greater pressureon the land from the migration of poorpeople that originated in the westernpart of the country and increasinginvestments in land conversion foragricultural uses. Major rural eco-nomic activities include commercialfarming and ranching, small-scalefood production, logging, mining, andpetroleum and natural gas extraction(Arrieta et al., 1990). While logging

was the main economic activity in theregion in the 1960s and 1970s, paral-lel to the development of road infra-structure, this has been followed bythe development of an active agricul-tural sector accompanied by a grow-ing processing industry of agriculturalgoods (sugar in the 1970s and soy-bean processing factories in the1990s) (Pacheco, 1998). Market net-works connect the region to nationaland international markets. These fac-tors make Santa Cruz the main centerfor agricultural expansion.

The land tenure situation haschanged drastically in the last twentyyears (Table IV). In the 1980s, the colo-nization zones, both directed and spon-taneous, reached 1 142 000 ha. Thedirected settlements were initiated inthe 1960s and were intensively pro-moted by the state until the late 1970s,becoming the most important factor forattracting spontaneous migrants,mostly from the highlands (Thiele,1995). In the 1990s these settlementsgrew very little. In contrast, communitylands or areas traditionally occupied by

Table II. Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia: description of the zones considered.

Name Type of dominant farmer Age of settlement Type of settlement

1. Guarayos Indigenous with some Old Spontaneoussmall farmers

2. Chiquitania Medium and large ranchers, Mixed Spontaneoussmall farmers and indigenous

3. Chaco Medium and large ranchers, Mostly old Spontaneousand indigenous

4. Northern expansion zone Small farmers Mixed Directed and spontaneous

5. Southern expansion zone Medium and large commercial New Spontaneous and directed

6. Northwest colonization zone Small farmers Mixed Directed and spontaneous

7. Colonization in “pie de monte” Small farmers Old Directed

8. Inter-Andean valleys Small farmers Old Traditional settlers

9. Integrated zone Medium and large commercial Old Spontaneous and directed

Sources: adapted from Davies (1994) and Thiele (1995).

Figure 3. Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia: adopted zoning.


indigenous people have been legallyrecognized since the early 1990s, with acurrent total of 12 292 000 ha. Most ofthese areas have been immobilized andwill be titled in favor of such popula-tions after a process of title regulariza-tion.

The areas under forest conces-sions declined from 15 238 000 ha to3 044 000 ha in the period from theearly 1980s to 2000 due to the imple-mentation of new forestry regulationsthat disincentive forested land concen-tration. A large proportion of theseareas is now being claimed by indige-nous populations, or has been declaredprotected areas. The latter areas have

expanded by about 6 000 000 ha in thelast twenty years due to increasing con-cern from the Bolivian government forbiodiversity conservation, althoughsome areas have no effective protec-tion. The area covered by medium andlarge landholders and cattle ranchers isunknown, but official data mentionsthat about 13 000 000 ha were allo-cated in favor of such producers in thedepartment of Santa Cruz (CNRA, 1995).Nevertheless, a portion of these areashas an uncertain legal status, and com-peting claims persist mainly betweenindigenous populations in the Chiquita-nia and Guarayos zones.

Differentiateddynamics ofagricultural

development

The dynamics of frontier expan-sion observed in Santa Cruz are quitedifferentiated in the zones consid-ered. The following interpretationwas supported by multinomial logis-tic regression models, which allowthe exploration of the role of accessi-bility, biophysical conditions, andland tenure and zoning restrictions inthe explanation of deforestation pat-terns. Detailed information on themodeling methodology can be foundin Mertens et al. (2003). Statisticalparameters were estimated for threeperiods of time (i.e. before 1989, from1989 to 1994 and from 1994 to 2000).

Frontier expansion is linked tothe development of: (i) a peasantfrontier in and around the areas set-tled by the government as rural set-tlements to the northwest and westof the city of Santa Cruz (Figure 3,zones 4, 6 and 7) and (ii) an entrepre-neurial frontier in areas closer toSanta Cruz allocated to medium andlarge landholders and in areas ofgreater development of mechanizedagriculture to the northeast and eastof Santa Cruz (Figure 3, zones 9 and 5,respectively).

The zones surrounding the city ofSanta Cruz, therefore, experienced thehighest deforestation rates (Table V).In fact, proximity to the main settle-ments, particularly to the city of SantaCruz, is the main factor associatedwith deforestation patterns. The zonesmentioned above also concentratealmost all the colonization area settledby the government and do not containany protected areas (except theAmboro National Park, which coversthe southern part of zone 7). A furthercharacteristic of the areas mentionedconsists of an increasing area devotedto community lands and decreasingareas under logging concession(Table IV).

Table III. Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia: land tenure and forest use rights.

Land distribution Area1980s 1990s

(103 ha) (%) (103 ha) (%)

Total department area 36 462.5 - 36 462.5 -

Individual and communal properties

Colonization zones 1 142.1 3.14 1 142.1 3.14

Community lands 1 080.9 2.97 12 292.2 33.77

Forest use

Protected areas 3 008.8 8.27 9,419 25.88

Forest concessions 15 238.9 41.86 3 044.2 8.36



Traditional village in the Chiquitania region. Photo P. Pacheco.


Table IV. Land tenure and forest use rights in the zones considered (% zone area) in the early 1980s and in 2000.

Name Colon. Community Protected Logging zone lands areas concessions

1980s 2000 1980s 2000 1980s 2000

1. Guarayos 0.00 1.25 32.66 9.22 20.45 90.52 19.00

2. Chiquitania 0.00 4.50 17.00 2.01 23.88 53.16 11.13

3. Chaco 0.17 3.55 82.19 0.00 48.36 6.69 0.00

4. Northern expansion zone 38.55 2.44 16.81 0.00 0.00 35.58 10.19

5. Southern expansion zone 11.61 1.51 26.45 0.00 2.49 14.15 0.00

6. Northwest colonization zone 13.79 0.00 0.00 1.07 0.00 64.28 13.49

7. Colonization in “pie de monte” 12.32 0.00 0.00 54.96 55.92 4.17 0.00

8. Inter-Andean valleys 0.70 0.00 9.11 0.27 0.00 4.74 3.57

9. Integrated zone 25.97 0.00 23.13 1.91 0.00 2.49 0.00

Table V. Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia: land cover change by zones.

Zones Land coverNon forest Stable forest Before 1989 1989-1994 1994-2000

(103 ha) (103 ha.y-1) (103 ha.y-1)

1. Guarayos 719.8 4 762.5 16.5 2.7 6.60.06 0.14

2. Chiquitania 2 211.5 12 107.2 128.7 12.5 30.60.10 0.25

3. Chaco 401.4 7 870.8 70.7 8.7 15.50.11 0.20

4. Northern expansion zone 82.7 390.3 120.4 13.8 23.63.53 6.05

5. Southern expansion zone 26.7 1 246.1 117.7 35.9 92.72.88 7.44

6. Northwest colonization zone 143.0 799.1 429.2 10.0 32.61.25 4.08

7. Colonization in “pie de monte” 61.1 718.6 185.6 4.3 15.20.60 2.12

8. Inter-Andean valleys 159.9 983.4 77.0 5.6 6.90.57 0.71

9. Integrated zone 80.6 106.5 445.4 11.0 17.110.34 16.02

Santa Cruz Department 3 886.7 28 984.4 1 591.0 104.5 240.80.36 0.83

First line: (area, thousand ha)Second line: (yearly rate of deforestation)

A different dynamic is observedin the large area of the Chiquitania(Figure 3, zone 2) where, in additionto forest extraction, cattle productionconstitutes the main economic activ-ity. In this area logging concessionswere the predominant land use untilthe mid-1990s, and the area coveredby community lands and protectedareas have both grown substantiallysince the early 1990s (Table IV). In thesame decade there was growing pres-sure of forest clearing for pastureexpansion in relation to a growingdemand from the Santa Cruz marketfor meat. In contrast to the trendsmentioned above, there has been lit-tle pressure of forest clearing in thezones where indigenous populationsare prevalent such as Guarayos andChaco (Figure 3, zones 1 and 3 respec-tively).

In Bolivia, in contrast with otherpatterns of frontier expansion, smallfarmers have not been displaced by alarge farm sector. Therefore, peasantsettlements have persisted over timeand the entrepreneurial producershave extended over areas defined bythe government as suitable for inten-sive agricultural development(Thiele, 1995). The area occupied bysmall farmers is basically limited tohigher rainfall areas, which are moresuitable for rice production, whilemedium- and large-scale farmershave moved to areas more suitablefor developing mechanized agricul-ture. Rainfall decreases sharply to thesouth and east moving from theAndean foothills into the dry Chaco.Statistical analyses reveal that theinfluence of access to roads, rainfalland soil quality declined over time, inassociation with migration dynamicsand the major agricultural shiftsexperienced in Santa Cruz.

In the 1960s, when the govern-ment initiated a program of importsubstitution, colonists and largefarmers both contributed to theexpansion of the areas under produc-tion with rice and cane, thereforerequiring land with the same ecologi-cal characteristics. This brought theminto potential conflict, although at a

time when public land was an abun-dant resource; some small farmerswere displaced further away from theintegrated zone. In the 1970s and1980s, medium and large farmersexpanded into ecological areas withlower rainfall which are less suitedto slash-and-burn agriculture basedon rice production. This occurredbecause these producers began tobenefit from subsidized credit to pro-duce cotton, a crop that demandslower rainfall. In the late 1980s andearly 1990s the area under soybean,which cannot tolerate high rainfall,expanded into the southern expan-sion zone. (Arrieta et al., 1990;Pacheco, 1998; Thiele, 1995). Thelivestock sector has evolved some-what independently due to the exis-tence of a large zone where livestockproduction can easily be developed.

Table V, in accordance with thedynamics mentioned, shows that by1989 the areas with greater pressure offorest conversion to agriculture werethose occupied by both directed andspontaneous colonization. About 50percent of forest clearing occurred inareas dominated by small farmers untillate the 1980s, and they were oftenblamed for being the main agents ofdeforestation at that time. Even aftertaking into account soil quality, rainfalland accessibility, colonization zonesunderwent more deforestation, whileforest concessions and protected areasexperienced less deforestation.However, location in a protected areaor forest concession provided lesseffective protection from deforestationin these periods, while location in acolonization zone ceased to be associ-ated with higher deforestation rates.



Forest clearing in the Chiquitania region. Photo J. Johnson.

Large scale agriculture in theexpansion zone.

Photo from: www.bolivialand.com.

This trend reverted in the follow-ing years, when both medium- andlarge-scale producers became themain agents responsible for defor-estation, with higher rates in the newfrontiers. In the period from 1989 to1994, deforestation continued toincrease in the zones dominated bysmall farmers, but it grew at exponen-tial levels in the zones dominated bymedium and large commercial farm-ers by about 45 000 ha/year.

In the period from 1994 to 2000forest clearing continued to grow inboth types of frontiers, although therewas greater growth in the entrepre-neurial frontier. While deforestationwas about 71 000 ha/year in peasantfrontiers, it was equivalent to 110 000ha/year in areas with a large presenceof medium- and large-scale farmers.The area deforested annually on aver-age in the Chiquitania and Chaco alsoduplicated in the two zones.

The acceleration of deforestationhas different explanations accordingto the type of frontier. The growth ofdeforestation in the peasant frontier isdue to greater pressure on stand for-est around the settlements rather thanas a result of the expansion of the set-tlements over new areas. Most of thepressure comes from efforts to mecha-nize rice production and from theintroduction of soybean during thewinter season, in addition to theincreasing interest of farmers toexpand their livestock activities inorder to improve their cash income(Urioste, Pacheco, 2001). In suchareas deforestation patterns tend tobe associated mostly with the proxim-ity to existing agricultural lands (i.e. adiffusion process). In contrast, theentrepreneurial frontier grew underthe influence of fiscal incentives toexports, subsidized public fees in therailroad system, the construction ofnew roads, and policies that madenew lands available at low cost tolarge landholders. In addition, a deci-sive factor can be found in the favor-able market conditions for exportingBolivian soybeans to the Andean mar-ket (Kaimowitz et al., 1999).

This paper shows the stronginteraction existing between agricul-tural frontier development and defor-estation in the department of SantaCruz, while highlighting that this hasdepended largely on factors locatedat the macro-level. It also illustratesthat the spatial patterns of land usechange in the early stages of frontierdevelopment were greatly influencedby variables such as access to roads,rainfall and soil quality, but that theimportance of such variables declinedover time in association with majoragricultural shifts experienced inSanta Cruz. In this light, fine tunedanalysis of land-use trajectorieslinked to the evolution of the agricul-tural sector contributes largely tounderstanding the dynamics of agri-cultural frontier development whenassociated with the contextual fac-tors that influence such trends.

In Santa Cruz, pressures on for-est cover were low until the middle ofthe 1950s, and deforestation remai-ned low to international standardsover the following three decades. Itwas after the mid-1980s, as a result ofmajor shifts in the macro-economicpolicy, that forest conversion to agri-cultural uses exceeded the averageregional rate. Three major areas haveundergone higher forest conversion inSanta Cruz: the peasant frontiers, theentrepreneurial agricultural frontier,and the livestock frontier of theChiquitania. While small farmers werethe main agents responsible for forestclearing before the 1980s, this trendreverted in the following years due tomedium- and large-scale farmers whobegan to convert forest more activelyto agricultural uses. The livestock sec-tor has historically contributed little todeforestation but that trend hasquickly reverted in recent years. Incontrast, the zones where indigenouspeople are dominant have had lowerrates of deforestation.

The agricultural frontier develop-ment and subsequent deforestationexperienced in Santa Cruz in the lastfour decades has not followed a simi-lar pattern to that found in any other

tropical country of the region. It ischaracterized as a profitable agricul-tural land use, although not all pro-ducers have benefited equally. To alarge extent, the way in which the landhas been allocated, the road develop-ment, and the policies targeting theagricultural sector, in addition to thefiscal incentives set up at a macro-level to benefit some specific groupsof producers, have all been factorsthat have decisively contributed overtime to defining the trajectory of landuse evolution in Santa Cruz. Statisticalanalyses performed here suggest thattrends of deforestation will notdecrease in the following years andthat deforestation is likely to be lowerin community lands, in addition to thefact that location in a protected areaor forest concession is likely to pro-vided less effective protection fromdeforestation in the future.


Conclusions

Large scale agriculture in the expansionzone. Photo from: www.bolivialand.com.

Corn and soybean silos in Santa Cruz. Photo K. Evans.



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land use change and agricultural development in santa cruz ...goods (i.e. rice, cotton and...

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