Soil erosion and labor shortages in the Andes with special reference to Bolivia, 1953ndash;1991: Implications for “conservation-with-development”

Abstract

Many claims in support of soil conservation policies have been flawed by excessively deterministic reasoning and unwarranted spatial overaggregation. A case study remedying these flaws demonstrates that soil erosion in the Bolivian Andes worsened during recent decades (1953-91) due to changes in production as peasants shifted labor from conservation techniques to nonfarm employment. These findings reflect in three policy issues concerning sustainable resource management oriented toward development (“conservation-with-development”) are discussed: (a)environmental consequences and economic causes of increased nonfarm employment by part-time peasant farmers; (b) environment-related aspects of technology innovation and technique modifications in labor-scarce peasant production; and (c) the environmental perceptions of peasant farmers in participatory development planning.