Globalization, Forest Trends and Received Ideas: Rethinking Development and Conservation in the 21st Century

• Event Date: Tuesday, September 12, 2006
• Time: 4:00 pm (CDT)
• Cost: Free Admission

• Talk

Center for Global Studies

Susanna Bettina Hecht
Professor of Urban Planning, School of Public Affairs, UCLA

The talk will examine how countries defy expected patterns. El Salvador, "poster child" for Malthusian degradation, with the among the highest population densities per ha in Latin America is now undergoing vigorous forest recovery, with some areas exceeding 60% woodland recuperation. Bolivia, 85% indigenous, roughly the size of France with only 6 million people (the same population as El Salvador) is experiencing among the fastest rates of deforestation in the hemisphere. The talk will explore how globalization is shaped by localities and their history and how it translates into highly divergent outcomes in terms of deforestation.