Roads, Land Use, and Deforestation: A Spatial Model Applied to Belize

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The purpose of this article is to compare the (positive) economic and (negative) environmental impacts brought on by the creation of rural roads in southern Belize. Though the creation of these roads has economic benefits for emerging economies, they are also associated with environmental destruction. Some of the negative environmental impacts associated with rural roads are deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and changes to the climate. It is a tricky issue, because the creation of roads is a key aspect of “development”, according to the authors. If poorer areas create roads, this will take their economies in a positive direction, bringing more income to those within the area. The creation of roads sparks other economic pursuits, such as the clearing of areas for agriculture and logging. However, these economic benefits do not come without deforestation of important habitats. In order to compare these economic and environmental trade-offs and to closely examine the details (i.e. location, extent of destruction) of rural roads and their impacts (and who they impact i.e. the rural poor), the authors use a spatially explicit model of land use, using GIS. From their research the authors hoped to find better, less-destructive areas to locate these roads. Their research yielded a significant array of results, though the most significant finding was that “market distance, land quality, and tenure have strong interactive effects on the likelihood and type of cultivation”, in regards to roads―which can be observed in Table 2 (Chomitz & Gray 501). They also found that road extensions into many areas with poor or mediocre soil-which dominate tropical areas-could constitute a lose-lose strategy”; basically, in these cases, the environment is damaged and the people in the area do not benefit from economic growth brought on by the roads, because this growth is so minimal (Chomitz & Gray 507).

Chomitz, Kenneth M., and David A. Gray. "Roads, Land use, and Deforestation: A Spatial Model Applied to Belize." The World Bank Economic Review 10.3 (1996): 487-512.

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