Biocomplexity Incubation Activity: Human Actions and Land-Use/Land-Cover Change

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Researchers seeking to understand the complex dynamics between humans and their environment commonly have used census-type data that are gathered at the household level, aggregated these data up to some geographically defined administrative unit, and then linked these aggregated data with land-use and land-cover data gathered from remote sensors in satellites or airplanes. In recent years, a number of projects have systematically sought to gather socioeconomic data at the household level as well as remotely sensed land-use and land-cover data. These projects generally have been independent of each other, and there has not been a careful review of the methods being used to actually link data on people and pixels (the units of land as viewed by the remote sensors). This Biocomplexity Incubation Award will support the conduct of a workshop to address both theoretical and practical issues involved in collecting and linking socioeconomic data from households and communities with remotely sensed data to study land-use and land-cover change. This project will bring scientists from a number of these major projects discuss the methods, challenges, and opportunities currently facing researchers. The workshop is expected to be held at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, in mid- to late 2001. Papers prepared by and discussions among participants at the workshop will be used to produce a publication that provides a state-of-the-art survey of methodology and issues for linking household-based socioeconomic data with remotely sensed land-use and land-cover data. This project is designed not only to enhance the knowledge of the scientific community regarding the interaction between human and natural systems. It also will provide decision makers with information and tools to enable them to better understand human impacts on land-use and land-cover change and to predict environmental responses to such changes. Understanding these processes is critical if policy makers and planners are to create the conditions that promote environmentally sound and sustainable development. More specifically, the proposed workshop will lead to a better understanding of methods of analyzing human impacts on land-use changes and of how these changes influence land cover over time.