Four decades of land use change in the Cotacachi Andes: 1963-2000

Abstract

This fourth chapter uses a combination of scientific tools and interview to track changes in land use patterns in Cotacachi over the latter half of the twentieth century. Major trends found in the study include increasing agricultural production across tracts of brushland, the break up of low land haciendas due to agrarian reform, and increasingly mixed forest composition as timber becomes a more important commodity for economic use.