Survey Globalization and the connection of remote communities: A review of household effects and their biodiversity implications Daniel Boyd Kramer a, ⁎, Gerald Urquhart b , Kristen Schmitt c a 370 North Case Hall, James Madison College and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States b 35 East Holmes Hall, Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States c 32 Natural Resources, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States abstract article info Article history: Received 6 November 2008 Received in revised form 26 June 2009 Accepted 27 June 2009 Available online 3 August 2009 Keywords: Globalization Biodiversity Households Markets Migration Technology The remote regions of the world provide refuge to a disproportionate amount of the Earth's biodiversity. As globalization continues, isolated human communities in these regions are increasingly connected to global market, migration, and technology networks. We review the diffuse literature on the household effects of changing market access, migration, and technology adoption in remote regions and implications for native biodiversity. Market access affects biodiversity in remote communities through changes in household economics and social networks. Migration, either to or from remote settlements, affects biodiversity through changes in population, remittances, human capital, and social networks. Finally, we consider effects due to production, public infrastructure, and information and communication technologies. There is much ambiguity surrounding these causal pathways, and thus we also examine the roles of various ecological, household, community, and institutional mediating factors in determining the impacts of global connection. Finally, we explore the limitations of our current knowledge and research practices and propose directions for future work to address key uncertainties in theory and evidence as well as weaknesses in methodological approaches. We recommend a broad and interdisciplinary mode of inquiry as the best means toward clarifying globalization's impacts on human settlements and the biodiversity harbored in the Earth's remaining remote regions. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Globalization's manifestations are increasingly penetrating the remote human settlements of the world and are profoundly affecting the local use of natural resources in complex ways (Dietz et al., 2003). Remote communities, those lying at the periphery of global market, migration, and technology networks, are increasingly becoming less remote. Here, human impacts are less, and resources are relatively abundant and intact (Sanderson et al., 2002). Biodiversity hotspot countries, those with at least 100,000 ha of hotspots (Fisher and Christopher, 2007), meaning areas with at least 1500 endemic plant species having lost at least 70% of their original habitat extent, have larger and faster growing rural populations, have more emigration, and are less connected in terms of infrastructure and technology than non-hotspot countries (Table 1). These metrics will change with connection. The proximity of remote human settlements to biodiver- sity hotspots (Fig. 1) suggests that the effects of global connection are of great importance for conservation. Connection to global networks occurs via new roads, rails, ports and increasingly through communication technologies. Much of the extant conservation literature has focused on the direct effects on biodiversity of transportation infrastructure such as mortality from construction and vehicle collisions, wildlife behavior modification, spread of exotics, and alteration of physical and chemical environ- ments (Trombulak and Frissell, 2000). Less attention has been given to how the connection of remote communities indirectly affects bio- diversity through changes in household behavior. It is clear, however, that household dynamics are important (Liu et al., 2003). There is little consensus though on the magnitude or direction of these effects let alone an understanding of the processes by which these effects are manifested. Causal pathways are complex and are mediated by nu- merous factors. Our primary purpose is to review how households in remote areas respond to new market access, migration, and introduced technolo- gies (Fig. 2). Analysis of these three primary drivers and their household effects are often addressed separately when in fact they are inseparable. The second purpose of this review, therefore, is to provide an integrative account of the linkages between these causal processes by identifying common mediating factors. Our final purpose is to implicitly revisit many of the well known tensions between economic development and environmental sustainability from the household perspective, which provides a unique lens for determining how the calculus of global connection affects the attainment of economic and environmental goals. Ecological Economics 68 (2009) 2897–2909 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 517 432 2199; fax: +1 517 432 1804. E-mail address: dbk@msu.edu (D.B. Kramer). 0921-8009/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.06.026 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon