Human interventions in forest or agricultural environments Choose one of the following options. Submissions must conform to the guidelines laid out in the Essay Instruction sheet. Respond to all parts of the question and support your statements with well-re

Human interventions in forest or agricultural environments
Choose one of the following options. Submissions must conform to the guidelines laid out in the
Essay Instruction sheet. Respond to all parts of the question and support your statements with
well-reasoned arguments and references.
Essay option 1. Tropical deforestation is a result of a number of human activities including
commercial logging, fuel wood collection, cattle ranching, large-scale development projects, and
agriculture.
In this essay, you are required to:
(i) Identify the most important types of activities that currently contribute to tropical
deforestation, and compare how these factors differentially influence deforestation across
regions.
(ii) Describe the environmental implications of deforestation.
(iii) Summarize the economic and/or market mechanisms used to reduce forest degradation.
Suggested sources:
1. Geist, H.J and Lambin, E.F. (2002). Proximate causes and underlying driving forces of
tropical deforestation. BioScience, 52(2), 143-150.
2. Kummer, D. and Turner, B. (1994). The human causes of deforestation in Southeast Asia.
BioScience, 44, 323-328.
3. Nepstad, D., Soares-Filho, B.S., Merry, F. et al. (2009). The end of deforestation in the
Brazilian Amazon. Science, 326, 1350-1351.
4. Rudel, T.K., Defries, R. Asner, G.P. and Laurance, W.F. (2009). Changing drivers of
deforestation and new opportunities for conservation. Conservation Biology, 23, 1396-1405.
Essay option 2. Although the green revolution led to increases in crop yield, certain negative
implications also arose. Recent narratives on the land sparing and land sharing dichotomy has
framed this tension between agricultural intensification and alternatives using agroecological
practices.
In this essay, you are required to:
i) Describe environmental and social costs associated with green revolution techniques.
ii) Given constraints in agricultural environments, explain to what extent this intensive
agricultural approach has become unsustainable.
iii) Present the environmental and social outcomes of the land sparing and land sharing approach.
Discuss which approach is optimal for achieving both biodiversity conservation and agricultural
yield, while also achieving sustainable development goals.
Suggested sources:
1. Fischer, J., Abson, D.J., Butsic, V. et al. (2014). Land sparing versus land sharing: Moving
forward. Conservation Letters 7, 149-15.
2. Pingali, PL. (2012). Green revolution: impacts, limits, and the path ahead. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Science, 109(31).
3. Singh, R.B. (2000). Environmental consequences of agricultural development: a case study
from the Green Revolution state of Haryana, India. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 82,
97-103.
4. Tomich, T., Brodt, S., Ferris, H. et al. (2011). Agroecology: A Review from a Global-Change
Perspective. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 36,1 93–22.