Land use and sustainable development in the Eastern Amazon

• Grant number: 22/00487-6
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: May 01, 2022
• End date: April 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Agreement: Cardiff University
• Mobility Program: SPRINT - Projetos de pesquisa - Mobilidade
• Principal Investigator: Lindon Fonseca Matias
• Grantee: Lindon Fonseca Matias
• Principal researcher abroad: Antonio Augusto Rossotto Ioris
• Institution abroad: Cardiff University, Wales
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Pan He ; Terry Marsden
• Associated research grant: 20/16489-2 - Real use versus formal land use in the Amazon of Maranhão: conditions for sustainable development, AP.R

Abstract

The project aims to complement and expand existing collaboration between Cardiff University and Unicamp with a series of academic activities in the two countries, fieldwork in the Amazon Region, preparation of joint publications and submission of a large-scale project to FAPESP (thematic) and under the bilateral FAPESP-UKRI (particularly NERC and ESRC). The first activity will comprise a workshop and meetings in Cardiff will focus on socio-ecological dilemmas of the ongoing process of economic intensification and land use change in the Amazon Region, particularly in the State of Maranhão (which has 1/3 of its area in the Amazon, around 120,000 km², 108 municipalities); it is related to the multidisciplinary MSc in Environment and Development. The second activity will include meetings at Unicamp and fieldwork and meetings in Maranhão; data collection will benefit from an existing network between Cardiff-Unicamp-UEMA, together with Kansas University, Embrapa, UFMA, Unesp and SEMA-MA. Fieldwork will involve data collection in three areas and combine GIS-based assessment of land use change (at local and regional levels) with interviews and meetings with different land use sectors (different farming categories, conservation and mining). Primary and secondary results will be consolidated and analyzed by the research team and will be discussed in a second meeting in Cardiff. It will be examined trends of deforestation and economic expansion, including the tension between export-oriented development and socio-ecological impacts. It will address the unevenness and risky patterns of regional development from the perspective of spatial changes and the need to promote more inclusive and sustainable development strategies. The fourth part of the project will be a large-scale workshop at Unicamp, which will involve the academic community of São Paulo and invited guests from international universities (participate on-line). Results will be disseminated in academic publications and policymaking recommendations, paving the way for large-scale, collaborative grant applications. (AU)