Deforestation In Amazon

II. Approach to identifying the causes of deforestation

There is an extensive body of literature on the topic. However, different researches suggest various models for identifying the causes of deforestation. The one approach I found most appealing is to try to understand the deforestation process as a result of the interplay of various inter-related factors. Therefore, instead of trying to identify only one dominant cause of deforestation from a policy perspective it is much more beneficial to stick to an explanatory model of deforestation which treats deforestation as an outcome. In this respect the model introduced in the paper "Causes of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: a qualitative comparative analysis." provides an interesting

Lambin developing more reliable scenarios on the future of the Amazon ecosystem and putting in place effective mechanisms to limit deforestation, requires focusing on the causal relationships at work in the socio-ecological system. The authors claim that the way in which causal relationships in geography are being represented today has changed considerably both in terms of the number of factors taken into account and in terms of the way in which these factors interact. Geography like many human sciences has evolved and moved from the identification of causal pathways linking a cause to an effect in a linear and unidirectional way to the consideration of many factors which are interrelated and which interact with each other. According to Scouvart and Lambin the tropical deforestation phenomenon should also be considered in the context of these scientific developments. Trying to explain the phenomenon by considering only one dominant factor (such as demographic expansion, national or infrastructure building policies) is too simplistic and fails to capture the complexity of the process, particularly in the case of the Brazilian Amazon. Therefore, both scholars advocate the multiplicity of the causes of deforestation in the Brazilian