Research and academic colaboration with the Instituto de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento da UNIVAP

• Grant number: 13/17112-6
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - Brazil
• Start date: November 01, 2013
• End date: October 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Urban and Regional Planning
• Principal Investigator: Sandra Maria Fonseca da Costa
• Grantee: Sandra Maria Fonseca da Costa
• Visiting researcher: Maria Angelica Toniolo
• Visiting researcher institution: The Nature Conservancy (TNC - Brasil), Brazil
• Host Institution: Instituto de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (IP&D). Universidade do Vale do Paraíba (UNIVAP). São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Visiting Researcher will collaborate on a research project about the specificities of urban of small cities of the Amazon Region and the importance and characteristics of these cities in the regional economy, and contribute to the MA in Urban and Regional Planning, of the University of Vale do Paraíba, by offering a course of short duration, participation in final exams of some dissertations and collaboration in supervision dissertations, and preparation of research projects to be submitted to agencies for financial support.In relation to her contribution to the research project mentioned before, Maria Angelica Toniolo is a researcher that investigates the interrelationships between different regimes of natural resources property and the use and management of these resources and the consequences of these inter-relationships for sustainable development in the Brazilian Amazon. Thus, she will contribute to expanding the scope of analysis of the research project coordinated by the coordinator, Sandra Costa, by investigating the effects of recent institutional changes (land and environmental legislations) on the land use by the ribeirinhos of the municipality of Ponta de Pedras, located at the Amazon river estuary, in relation to rural-urban migration and socioeconomic characteristics and demographic characteristics of households located at the urban expansion areas. This municipality is one of the largest producers of açaí in the region, and analyze the consequences of these changes is very important to support the development of public policies directed to these populations. More specifically, this study wants to understand how the changing of land use in rural areas affects urban areas and vice versa. We hope this study can contribute to this subject of knowledge that deals with the complex relationship between urbanization and changes in land use and the social and political challenges associated with sustainable urbanization, maintaining environmental services and social equity. It is important to notice that as the project connected to the Belmont Forum was approved the participation of the Researcher in the subject mentioned becomes more necessary.Regarding the Masters in Urban Planning, the researcher will offer a short course on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), linked to the research subject in Planning, Population and Environment, aiming to contribute to the formation of critical technicians in Program on the discussions related to global changes.At last, the visiting researcher will contribute to the program as a whole, bringing her extensive experience in design and implementation of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), for the training of young researchers and professionals who are interested in the human dimension of global change and the interrelationships between processes at local, regional and global scales, for example, the distribution of benefits in payment for environmental services for climate change mitigation, theme increasingly important for the Urban and Regional Planning. (AU)