ECOLOGY:
Enhanced: Globalization, Migration, and Latin American Ecosystems
T. Mitchell Aide and H. Ricardo Grau
To balance the needs of a human population that should reach 9 billion by 2050 with the conservation of natural ecosystems, we need land-use and conservation policies that promote the most efficient use of the world's resources. High-yield agriculture and rural-urban migration, two important characteristics of the globalization process, are making positive contributions toward this goal in Latin America, but their potential contribution for conservation efforts has received little attention. The authors of this Policy Forum suggest that important social and conservation gains can be made by focusing social programs on preparing rural migrants for an urban environment and promoting ecosystem recovery in the marginal agriculture and pasture lands that are being abandoned.
T. M. Aide is in the Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR 00931-3360. E-mail: tmaide{at}yahoo.com. H. R. Grau is in the Laboratorio de Investigaciones Ecológicas de las Yungas, Universidad Nacional de Tucuman Casilla de Correo 34 (4107), Yerba Buena, Tucuman, Argentina. E-mail: chilograu{at}yahoo.com.ar
