Collaborative Research: Socio-Spatial Processes of Road Extensions and Forest Fragmentation in the Brazilian Amazon

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Previous research on the Amazon has not systematically documented the link between the socio-spatial processes of road construction and the geometric signature of road networks on landscapes and ecosystems. Ecology literature approaches the issue of roads as a purely spatial phenomenon, and emphasizes the ensuing environmental impacts of habitat fragmentation without attending to the social processes driving road construction in the first place. Social science research has only addressed the aggregate impact of road construction on deforestation, a rather blunt measure given the important ecological implications of various spatial geometries of forest fragmentation. As a result, a gap remains between the knowledge bases of ecological and social scientists concerned with roads and environmental change. This project aims to start bridging that gap by examining the social processes of road extensions and the resulting spatial architecture of expanding road networks in a tropical forest frontier in the Brazilian Amazon. The investigators ground the project in a theoretical framework for understanding the socio-spatial processes of road extensions and how the spatial logic of extensions leads to road networks with variable spatial architectures. That framework draws on insights from microeconomic theory, work on tenure institutions and property rights, and political ecology to understand the process of road extensions by loggers, landholders, and coalitions of interest groups who seek to amplify road networks in the Amazon. On the basis of this framework, loggers and landholders are expected to extend roads as they respond to different forces. As these agents fulfill different objectives with different forms of capital, the resulting road networks are expected to have distinct spatial architectures and to have different impacts on forest fragmentation. Research methods include interviews with loggers, landholders, and other participants in road extension efforts along the Transamazon highway, with special attention given to the socio-spatial processes leading to construction of individual road sections. The field interviews will generate a sample of road extensions under different historical and economic circumstances along the Transamazon. The investigators will combine the interview data to digital maps covering the study area, thereby linking extension processes to the spatial architecture of resulting road networks. This research project should help fill a gap left between the ecological and social science literatures on road building, human land use, and forest fragmentation. In the context of new infrastructure projects in Brazil and the rapid pace of environmental degradation in the Amazon, research on the social processes and spatial architecture of roads is very timely. A synthetic and more coherent understanding of the social, economic, and ecological dimensions of human land use and ecological change in the Amazon will be fostered through the inclusion of Brazilians in both U.S. and Brazilian universities in this project. The investigators also expect to disseminate teaching modules and visualization products concerning road extensions and forest fragmentation for university instruction, scholarly presentations, and meetings with stakeholder groups.