Globalization, Forest Resurgence, and Environmental Politics in El Salvador

SummaryGlobalization is often viewed as a driver of deforestation, but there are contexts where it promotes forest recovery. This is the case in El Salvador. In spite of population densities in excess of 200 people per km2, the country, which has been seen as a Malthusian parable of population and ecological catastrophe, is now increasingly wooded. This reflects the impacts of globalization (new flows of labor, capital, commodities, and ideas) which profoundly affected the rural economy, as well as local processes such as civil war (which constrained the agricultural frontier), structural adjustment policies, and agrarian reform.