What are the major factors promoting deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?
Road development, initial soil conditions, and the distance of farms from markets can explain much of the deforestation and land degradation. A model simulates how feed-back from socioeconomic and ecological aspects of land-use change can increase the rate of land degradation. Land-use changes can be used to estimate changes in biodiversity, land degradation, and atmospheric CO2 and the effects of tropical deforestation. Southworth, F., V. H. Dale, and R. V. O’Neill. 1991. Contrasting patterns of land-use change in Rondônia, Brazil: Simulating the effects on carbon release. International Social Science Journal 130:681-98. Dale, V. H. and Pedlowski, M. A. 1992. Farming the forests. Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy 7(4):20-21. Dale, V. H., R. V. O’Neill, and F. Southworth. 1993. Causes and effects of land-use change in central Rondônia, Brazil. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing 59:997-1005. Dale, V. H., R. V. O’Neill, F. Southworth, and M. A. Pedlowski. 1994. Model
