Land Governance in a Connected World
Yann le Polain de Waroux
Project Description
In response to rapid deforestation associated with agricultural expansion, various countries have increased restrictions on forest conversion to agriculture. However, these restrictions are mostly local, whereas large agricultural companies often operate in several regions or countries, and tend to move capital in response to changes in investment conditions. To the extent that increasing regulations affect their profits, we would expect them to shift production towards less-regulated regions, which would decrease the overall effectiveness of these regulations. More generally, trade and capital flows connect distant places in ways that make it harder to predict what the effect of local changes, such as agricultural intensification, or an increase in regulations, will be. In this line of research, we take various methodological angles on the challenges posed by this connectivity to land governance (see our recent papers on the restructuring of soy and beef production and trade under changing deforestation regulations, the role of supply-chain initiatives in reducing deforestation, and land use responses to development and conservation policies in Brazil.