The Dynamics and Social Organization of Tropical Deforestation in Northwest Ecuador, 1983-1995

This paper examines the regional dynamics and natural resource use strategies related to the deforestation of tropical rain forests west of the Ecuadorian Andes for the period 1983–1995. Research was based on regional level analysis of remotely sensed and secondary data and local level analysis of the ways local populations use the resources at their disposal. The process observed departs significantly from what has been described in the literature for Latin America and should be seen as a window into a broader environmental process occurring in most tropical forests on the Pacific side of northern South America. Deforestation in the Northwest Ecuador is primarily related to a complex productive structure, made up a countless number of timber producers and middlemen, ranging from fully informal to fully formal, and from small scale to large scale. A key finding is that local traditional populations play a critical role through productive coalitions between small primary producers and large timber firms. These have been shaped by the articulation of local conditions with external markets, settlement processes, and the convergence of local populations in an economic system which relies on the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. If deforestation rates in Northwest Ecuador remain at current levels, forests in the region will disappear completely within 30–35 years, a fate that is likely to be the same for most tropical rain forests west of the tropical Andes.