The Connectivity Trap: Stuck Between the Forest and Shared Prosperity in the Colombian Amazon

Patricio Goldstein, Timothy Freeman, Alejandro Rueda-Sanz, Shreyas Gadgin Matha, Sarah Bui, Nidhi Rao, Timothy Cheston () and Sebastian Bustos ()
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Patricio Goldstein: Center for International Development at Harvard University
Timothy Cheston: Center for International Development at Harvard University
Sebastian Bustos: Center for International Development at Harvard University

No 147a, CID Working Papers from Center for International Development at Harvard University

Abstract: The Colombian Amazon faces the dual challenge of low economic growth and high deforestation. High rates of deforestation in Colombia have led to a perceived trade-off between economic development and protecting the forest. However, we find little evidence of this trade-off: rising deforestation is not associated with higher economic growth. In fact, the forces of deforestation of some of the world’s most complex biodiversity are driven by some of the least complex economic activities, like cattle-ranching, whose subsistence-level incomes are unable to meet the economic ambitions for the region. All the while, the majority of the Amazonian departments’ population works in non-forested cities and towns, at a distance from the agriculture frontier that forms the “arc of deforestation.” The relative urbanization of the Amazonian departments, despite the vast land mass available, recognizes that prosperity is achieved through close social-economic interactions to expand the knowledge set available to be able to produce more, and more complex activities. Achieving economic goals therefore relies on creating new productive opportunities in non-forested, urban areas.

Keywords: Colombia; Peru; Amazon Rainforest; deforestation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev, nep-env and nep-mfd
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: The Connectivity Trap: Stuck Between the Forest and Shared Prosperity in the Colombian Amazon (2023)
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