Analysis Environmental and market determinants of economic orientation among rain forest communities: Evidence from a large-scale survey in western Amazonia Oliver T. Coomes a, ⁎ ,1 , Yoshito Takasaki b,1 , Christian Abizaid c , J. Pablo Arroyo-Mora d a Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada b Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan c Department of Geography & Planning, School of Environment, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada d Geographic Information Centre, Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada abstract article info Article history: Received 10 February 2016 Received in revised form 26 May 2016 Accepted 1 June 2016 Available online xxxx Large scale surveys of rain forest livelihoods open up new possibilities for understanding the role of forest re- sources in the well-being of forest peoples but often overlook the factors that influence the diverse economic foci of forest-based communities. In this paper we describe the Peruvian Amazon Rural Livelihoods and Poverty (PARLAP) Project which seeks to identify the factors that contribute to rural poverty among indigenous and folk peoples through the first large scale survey conducted in this data poor region. Our paper draws upon a commu- nity census undertaken in four major river sub-basins in eastern Peru (n = 919 communities) and asks the ques- tion, how do environmental and market factors influence the economic orientation of rain forest communities? Recognizing that standard approaches that explain activity choice by current conditions are problematic because of potential endogeneity, we propose a new analytical framework that examines how historical (initial) condi- tions determine current conditions and thus current economic activities. Our approach produces a rich array of results that point to the importance of initial environmental endowments and market access of communities in shaping their economic orientation, interacting in different ways depending on the key natural resource upon which they rely. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Community economic study Agriculture Forest resource extraction Fishing Hunting Historical environmental endowments Market access 1. Introduction Studies of rain forest economies over the past 20 years have contrib- uted significantly to our understanding of how forest people mobilize resources to sustain themselves, earn cash income and insure them- selves against adversity (Wunder, 2001; Ambrose-Oji, 2003; Shackleton and Shackleton, 2004; Belcher et al., 2005; Sunderlin et al., 2005; Vedeld et al., 2007; Babulo et al., 2008; Kamanga et al., 2009; Nasi et al., 2011; Kar and Jacobson, 2012; Angelsen et al., 2014; Wunder et al., 2014a, 2014b). Biodiverse tropical forests provide a wide spectrum of potential economic opportunities for forest peoples, from agriculture and fishing to forest product extraction and hunting. A recent global study found that about 22% of rural household income in developing countries comes from forests as environmental income (Angelsen et al., 2014). Forests also play an important role as a safety net for rural households (Pattanayak and Sills, 2001; McSweeney, 2004; Shackleton and Shackleton, 2004; Takasaki et al., 2004; Liswanti et al., 2011; cf.: Wunder et al., 2014b) and, more broadly, in poverty alleviation (Ambrose-Oji, 2003; Coomes et al., 2004; Belcher et al., 2005; Sunderlin et al., 2005; Sunderlin, 2006; Shackleton et al., 2007; Vedeld et al., 2007; Mukul et al., 2015). An impressive quantity and diversity of products flow from forest to local, regional and global markets (e.g., Cavendish, 2000; Moreau and Coomes, 2007; FAO, 2010; Mahapatra and Shackleton, 2012; Dawson et al., 2014; Angelsen et al., 2014). Forest-based activities are vital to economic development, pov- erty alleviation and forest conservation policy (Wunder et al., 2014a). To date, however, studies of forest peasant economies have been limited in three important ways. First, many studies are based upon small samples of households and communities which may not always be representative of the broader population or region of interest. The reasons for focussing on small samples are both practical and historical: researchers typically are working in relatively remote areas, where pop- ulation densities are low and transportation infrastructure is sparse, and with limited funds and previous studies to build upon. Studies of forest- based economies also spring from an ethnographic tradition that favors in-depth descriptive study of a single community or group. As a result, sample sizes are often small and few generalizations can be made about spatial or social variations in forest economies or forest Ecological Economics 129 (2016) 260–271 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: oliver.coomes@mcgill.ca (O.T. Coomes). 1 The first two authors share senior authorship. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.06.001 0921-8009/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon