Land use transitions: Socio-ecological feedback versus socio-economic change

Land use transitions: Socio-ecological feedback versus socio-economic change

Background

This article compared endogenous socio-ecological factors versus exogenous socio-economic factors, which drive land use transitions. In addition to addressing generic possible frameworks of land use changes, this paper introduces the recent cases of forest transition in Bhutan and Vietnam The paper's framework of socio-ecological feedback on land use change accounts for forest resource scarcity, land scarcity, and agricultural land use changes. The framework of exogenous socio-economic feedback on land use takes the following factors into account: economic modernization, land rent, market access, land ownership regime, global trade, and global diffusion of environment conservation ideas.

Conclusions & Takeaways

In finding mechanisms explaining land uses in this review, those internal and external factors can also be categorized into one that forces deforestation and the other that encourage reforestation. The paper concluded that socio-ecological feedbacks seem to halt deforestation while socio-economic factors tend to accelerate the forest transitions. The last recommendation from the paper is that to make a shift a gear of policy making from halting deforestation to increasing reforestations.

Reference: 

Lambin EF, Meyfroidt P. Land use transitions: Socio-ecological feedback versus socio-economic change. Land Use Policy. 2010;27:108–118. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2009.09.003.

Affiliation: 

  • Department of Geography, University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium