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Although protected areas, or “parks”, are among the leading policy tools used to stem tropical deforestation, rigorous evaluations of their effectiveness—that is, evaluations that control for their tendency to be sited in remote areas with relatively little deforestation—have only recently begun to appear. Important open questions concern the link between the stringency of protection and park effectiveness. How do mixed-use parks that allow sustainable extractive activities perform relative to strictly protected parks? And what types of mixed-use management perform best? In addressing these questions, it is particularly important to control for nonrandom siting, since different management regimes tend to be sited in areas with different preexisting characteristics. To date, most rigorous studies of this issue have focused on scores of parks in one or multiple countries, a strategy that in principle could be undermined by unobserved park heterogeneity. This paper uses high-resolution 2001–2006 land cover data derived from satellite images along with statistical techniques that control for nonrandom siting to examine the relative effectiveness of strict and various mixed-use protection strategies in a single large park: the two-million-hectare Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala. Our results comport with the emerging consensus that on the whole, mixed-use protection in this park has been more effective in stemming deforestation than strict protection because of the performance of forest concessions within the multiple-use zone. However, we also find that mixed-use protection has had smaller, more heterogeneous effects than indicated by simple methods that do not control for nonrandom siting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies on the causes of deforestation have sought to link the phenomenon to specific economic, political, or demographic factors, usually through statistical or spatial-statistical modeling. However, generalizations about the link between deforestation and specific variables or classes of variables are of questionable validity. Another approach, one that is receiving growing attention, seeks instead to identify particular contexts or situations, as created by an array of interacting factors, which encourage forms of land use or other economic activity that can generate deforestation pressure. Such an approach was used in this study to explore recent trends and dynamics in the Petén region of northern Guatemala. The research found a number of regional and national scale factors that in combination have led to a process of de-agrarianization and dispossession among smallholders, while large scale, commercial activities in agriculture, ranching and plantation forestry increasingly dominate. Rapid land concentration, in conjunction with limited employment generation through emergent activities, is intensifying pressure on remaining areas of forest. A focus on two distinct areas within Petén reveals how broader-scale trends and features can have differing outcomes at the local level, with contrasting socioeconomic and environmental effects. Finally, the paper explores the implications of recent dynamics in Petén for both policy and theory in relation to deforestation, agrarian change, and regional development. Key factors and questions are highlighted that should be considered when exploring influences on regional socioeconomic and environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Many studies have examined the impacts of new roads in tropical forest frontiers. In general, these have led to substantial deforestation because they provide access to peasant farmers in need of land for food production and income generation. But few studies have investigated the impacts of improvements made to existing roads in frontier regions, and more specifically, their effects on the rural economy, land use, and land cover. This paper discusses the results of a 2001 study of these impacts, following the recent paving of the main road between Petén, a lowland frontier region in northern Guatemala, and the more densely populated highland regions of the country. This improvement, completed in late 1999, has yielded a major reduction in travel time between Flores, Petén and Guatemala City, the capital, from 12 to 14h, or more, previously, to 7–8h currently. The effects of this substantial change were examined through interviews and discussions with farmers, market vendors, and representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations in the region, and through analyzing the limited available data on imports to Petén from other parts of the country. The results indicate that to date, the farmers in the study area have not altered their land use patterns because the prices they receive from intermediaries have not changed, and no market for new crops has emerged. However, more agricultural products raised in other regions of Guatemala are now being sold in Petén. Therefore, producers in Petén seemingly face greater competition from those elsewhere in the country. This trend has important implications regarding the impacts of regional integration, and for the difficult challenge of improving agricultural and environmental conditions in Petén. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper discusses the hydrological significance of socio-economic practices such as agricultural land use change and forest extraction to communities adjacent to the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala. Cloud forest hydrology differs from most environments because of the increased frequency of fog interception and fog precipitation. Fog precipitation occurs when intercepted cloud droplets coalesce on foliar and woody surfaces as fog filters through the canopy, and represents a significant proportion of the annual water inputs to cloud forests especially during the dry season. Interception data from this study showed that fog precipitation contributed greater than 7.4% of the hydrological inputs at 2550m and less than 1% at 2100m in the Sierra de las Minas. During the dry season fog precipitation contributed 19% of the hydrological inputs to the water budget of the cloud forest. Fog precipitation may be a significant hydrological input to the water resources of the local population. Socio-economic practices such as the conversion of cloud forest to agricultural land may decrease water resources for communities in Guatemala that demand greater quantities of water. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pete´n, Guatemala is a lowland tropical frontier that has experienced substantial in-migration and deforestation in recent decades. Efforts to curb deforestation in Pete´n must be based on a better understanding of farmer strategies and the factors that drive them. This paper outlines some key findings that emerged through a detailed study of these strategies and factors. In particular it discusses the important influence of food security concerns on household strategies, as well as farmers’ growing interest in agricultural intensification, mainly in response to the reduction in the area of forest land available for swidden agriculture. The types of intensification strategies being turned to vary considerably, both among communities/sub-regions, and among households, due to differences in factors that influence the economic feasibility of particular activities. Pete´n farmers are more concerned about conserving forest than is commonly recognized. However, their ability to reduce pressure on forested areas through adoption of more intensive practices is constrained by weak market conditions and prices, poor agricultural services, low levels of farmer organization, and poverty. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]