Poverty, commodity prices and agricultural deforestation: lessons from the Ecuadorean coast

Deforestation literature commonly associates rising commodity prices with forest loss. Informal interviews in Manabí, Ecuador suggested that corn crops from forest conversion are often abandoned before harvest. Medium-resolution satellite imagery was used to formally measure the conversion of forest to cornfields. Between 2000 and 2005, despite a 185% increase in real domestic corn prices, coastal Ecuador experienced a 2.2% increase in total forested area. This observed forest gain contradicts the widely cited FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment deforestation rates. A multi-disciplinary approach brings into question the utility of national level patterns in sub-regional decision-making. When conducting future research, scholars must consider the original scale of measurement before applying past deforestation estimates.