Land Use Strategies and Their Causal Forces in Rondonia, Brazil, With Special Reference to the Rondonia Natural Resources Management Project (PLANAFLORO)

Abstract

This paper explores the factors contributing to the expansion of small-scale farming, ranching, logging, mining, and subsistence extraction as land use choices in Rondonia, Brazil. As a framework, these factors are grouped into the broad descriptive categories of environmental, social, political, and economic. Through a greater understanding of forces determining the predominance of small-scale farming, ranching, logging, mining, and subsistence extraction as types of land use in Rondonia, the conditions necessary for minimizing environmental degradation are illuminated.