A social and ecological assessment of tropical land uses at multiple scales: the Sustainable Amazon Network

Science has a critical role to play in guiding more sustainable development trajectories. Here, we present the Sustainable Amazon Network (Rede Amazonia Sustentavel, RAS): a multidisciplinary research initiative involving more than 30 partner organizations working to assess both social and ecological dimensions of land-use sustainability in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. The research approach adopted by RAS offers three advantages for addressing land-use sustainability problems: (i) the collection of synchronized and co-located ecological and socioeconomic data across broad gradients of past and present human use; (ii) a nested sampling design to aid comparison of ecological and socioeconomic conditions associated with different land uses across local, landscape and regional scales; and (iii) a strong engagement with a wide variety of actors and non-research institutions. Here, we elaborate on these key features, and identify the ways in which RAS can help in highlighting those problems in most urgent need of attention, and in guiding improvements in land-use sustainability in Amazonia and elsewhere in the tropics. We also discuss some of the practical lessons, limitations and realities faced during the development of the RAS initiative so far.Keywords: Social–ecological systems, Tropical forests, Land use, Interdisciplinary research, Sustainability, Trade-off

Collecting Sketch Maps To Understand Property Land Use And Land Cover In Large Surveys.

This article describes a method to collect data on the spatial organization of land use within a rural property as part of a large-scale project examining the linkages between household demographic change and land use and land cover change in the Brazilian Amazon. Previous studies used several different spatial approaches, including maps and satellite images, to improve the information collected in standard survey questionnaires. However, few used sketch maps to obtain information from the point of view of the survey respondent about the spatial organization of land use and infrastructure. We developed a method of creating sketch maps with respondents to describe their properties. These maps then provided a spatially referenced database of the social and land use organization of the properties from the perspective of the respondent. Systematic rules allowed sketches to be used in subsequent spatial analyses in combination with satellite images and Global Positioning System reference points.2066-8

Ambientalismo e concepções de RESEX, extrativismo e conhecimento no ICMBIO na Amazônia Legal Environmentalism and conceptions of RESEX, extractivism and knowledge in the ICMBIO in the Brazilian Amazon

O trabalho discute o posicionamento de técnicos de nível superior do Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade ICMBIO , em exercício na Amazônia Brasileira, em relação ao ambientalismo e identifica possíveis relações entre os posicionamentos e visões do conhecimento, concepção de Reserva Extrativista RESEX e de extrativismo. Consoante a base teórica discutida, foram adotadas as seguintes tipologias para as categorias estudadas: correntes ou vertentes ambientalistas: preservacionista, Sustentabilista e Socioambientalista; visões do conhecimento: anarquista, dialógica ou saber ambiental ; interdisciplinar; e, científica pura; visões de RESEX: RESEX como Unidade de Conservação UC de uso sustentável, RESEX servindo à reforma agrária e RESEX oportunista; visões sobre extrativismo: extrativismo legítimo, extrativismo falido e extrativismo oportunista. O método utilizado foi o comparativo com partições cruzadas, verificando similaridades e dissimilaridades de grupos de respondentes. Para levantamento dos posicionamentos dos respondentes foi disponibilizado a todos os técnicos um questionário com afirmações representativas das diferentes visões, utilizando escala do tipo Likert. Foi realizada a classificação dos técnicos em categorias, utilizando análise de agrupamento pelo método hierárquico aglomerativo, tendo como parâmetro a proximidade de posicionamento. Constatou-se que não há visão única a respeito do ambientalismo no Instituto Chico Mendes na Amazônia Legal e não existem linhas ambientalistas puras, mas compostas por concepções de várias vertentes. As visões sobre RESEXs e extrativismo estão relacionadas com concepções sociaombientalistas, reforçando a defesa de que este tipo de Unidade de Conservação faz parte dessa linha de pensamento.<br>The paper discusses the positioning of high level technicians the "Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBIO)", acting in the Brazilian Amazon, in relation to environmentalism and identifies possible relationships between the positioning and views on knowledge, conception of Extractive Reserve (RESEX) and extractivism. According to the theoretical discussion, we make the following types for the studied categories: environmentalist slope: preservationist, sustainabilist and socio-environmentalist; views of knowledge: anarchist, dialogic (or environmental knowledge), interdisciplinary and pure science; views of RESEX: RESEX as Conservation Unit (UC) for sustainable use, RESEX serving the agrarian reform and opportunist RESEX; views on extractivism: legitimate extractivism, legitimate extractivism and opportunistic extractivism. The method used was a comparative cross-partition, checking similarities and dissimilarities of respondents groups. To survey the positions of the respondents was made a questionnaire available to all staff with statements representing different views, using Likert scale. It was done a classification into categories of technicians, using cluster analysis by the agglomerative hierarchical method, having as parameter the proximity of placement. It was found that no single view about environmentalism in the Chico Mendes in the Legal Amazon and there are not pure environmentalist lines, but composed of several strands of ideas. The views on RESEXs and extractivism are related concepts socio- environmentalism, reinforcing the argument that this type of conservation is a part this line of thought

A social and ecological assessment of tropical land uses at multiple scales:the Sustainable Amazon Network

Science has a critical role to play in guiding more sustainable development trajectories. Here, we present the Sustainable Amazon Network (Rede Amazonia Sustentavel, RAS): a multidisciplinary research initiative involving more than 30 partner organizations working to assess both social and ecological dimensions of land-use sustainability in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. The research approach adopted by RAS offers three advantages for addressing land-use sustainability problems: (i) the collection of synchronized and co-located ecological and socioeconomic data across broad gradients of past and present human use; (ii) a nested sampling design to aid comparison of ecological and socioeconomic conditions associated with different land uses across local, landscape and regional scales; and (iii) a strong engagement with a wide variety of actors and non-research institutions. Here, we elaborate on these key features, and identify the ways in which RAS can help in highlighting those problems in most urgent need of attention, and in guiding improvements in land-use sustainability in Amazonia and elsewhere in the tropics. We also discuss some of the practical lessons, limitations and realities faced during the development of the RAS initiative so far