Demography, Development and Deforestation in a World-System Perspective

Abstract

A world systems theory is used to conduct an exploratory examination of the determinants of deforestation throughout the world. The analysis opened up the question of the role of foreign capital penetration through multinational corporations and direct foreign investment and the role of domestic capital concentration. World environmental degradation is considered the product of forest depletion in England during the 16th and 17th centuries that spurred the Industrial Revolution with its environmental impact and regional inequalities. The inequalities have encouraged the semi-periphery to deplete resources for short-term gains in achieving a competitive economic advantage. Deforestation amounts to an estimated loss of 11 million hectares of tropical forests annually or a 50% reduction since 1900. World system theory may be the best theory for modeling trends among countries at different levels of development. Olsen recognized different environmental consequences from social dynamics in different structural settings. Semi-peripheral countries according to Wallerstein are situated between peripheral and core countries and include a range in economic strength and political background. Their economic dependence is on the core countries but their position is upwardly mobile in the world system. Generalized least squares regression models for core semi-peripheral peripheral and combined countries indicate that the largest effect of demographic change on deforestation is in the core. The largest direct and indirect effects of education on deforestation are found in the semi-periphery and from rural encroachment. Service and manufacturing growth is associated with deforestation in the periphery and with rural encroachment in the semi-periphery where it has a dramatic effect on deforestation. Forestation has been linked with economic development. Regulation in the core appears to support sustained development while in the semi-periphery with regulation and technology deforestation is occurring at a rapid rate. The periphery is vulnerable to natural resource exploitation from the semi-periphery and core.