Rural-urban migration brings conservation threats and opportunities to Amazonian watersheds

Parry, Luke, Peres, Carlos A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1588-8765, Day, Brett and Amaral, Silvana (2010) Rural-urban migration brings conservation threats and opportunities to Amazonian watersheds. Conservation Letters, 3 (4). pp. 251-259.

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Abstract

The spatial distribution and growth of human populations have been overlooked by current debates concerning the impact of rural–urban migration for forest conservation in tropical countries. We investigated human settlement and population change in the Brazilian Amazon, combining government census data with field surveys along rivers. Rural populations were clustered and growing within 300 km of urban centers, whereas depopulation and land abandonment dominated farther from towns. The permanently inhabited extent of rivers contracted by 33 ± 8 SE% in recent decades, and households farther upriver were more likely to be considering rural–urban migration. However, harvesting of aquatic and terrestrial wildlife by nonresidents continued into headwater regions, hundreds of kilometers beyond the last household on any given river. Policy makers should consider that expanding cities may drive deforestation and overexploitation near towns while unclear property rights threatens overharvesting and unregulated land speculation in abandoned headwaters.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: sdg 15 - life on land ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_on_land
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Biology
Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Resources, Sustainability and Governance (former - to 2018)
Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE)
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Business and Local Government Data Research Centre (former - to 2023)
Depositing User: Rachel Snow
Date Deposited: 18 Feb 2011 13:24
Last Modified: 22 Apr 2023 00:23
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/24242
DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2010.00106.x

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