Symposium: The Influence of Human Demography and Agriculture on Natural Systems in the Neotropics

许多人为因素影响农业用地和自然区域（森林）的分布和范围，但最重要的是全球人口的增加、移民和人均卡路里消耗。在整个拉丁美洲和加勒比，经济增长以及获得更好工作、教育和卫生服务的机会不断增加，正在加速城市化进程；但在地方尺度上（如直辖市），其他因素会改变土地利用的总体趋势。为了提高我们对人类和自然动态之间复杂相互作用的理解，要求为题为“人口和农业对新热带自然系统的影响”的研讨会提供资金。本次研讨会将聚集整个拉丁美洲和加勒比地区的专家，讨论人口和农业动态之间的复杂相互作用，建立必要的合作来研究它们，并制定研究议程，以了解面对日益全球化的社会经济和环境过程如何相互作用。本次研讨会讨论的问题既具有基本意义，又具有重要的社会意义。全球化正在加速许多人类和自然过程（例如移徙、农业集约化、土地放弃），这些过程的相互作用是复杂的，往往是矛盾的。许多研讨会参与者是来自代表性不足的群体的年轻研究人员，他们对这些问题有既得利益，并具有开展跨学科研究的研究技能。研讨会的结果将作为一本重要科学杂志的特刊发表。

Many human factors influence the distribution and extent of agricultural lands and natural areas (forests), but the most important are the increase of the global population, migration, and per capita calorie consumption. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, economic growth and increasing opportunities for better jobs, education, and health services are increasing urbanization; but at a local scale (e.g. municipality), other factors modify general trends in land-use. To improve our understanding of the complex interactions between human and natural dynamics, funds are requested for a symposium entitled 'The influence of human demography and agriculture on natural systems in the Neotropics.' This symposium will gather experts throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss complex interactions between demographic and agricultural dynamics, forge the necessary collaborations to study them, and set a research agenda for understanding how socioeconomic and environmental processes interact in the face of increased globalization. The questions addressed by this symposium are of both basic and critical societal relevance. Globalization is accelerating many human and natural processes (e.g. migration, agricultural intensification, land abandonment), and the interactions of these processes are complex and often contradictory. Many of the symposium participants are young researchers from under-represented groups who have a vested interest in these questions and the research skills to initiate interdisciplinary research. Results of the symposium will be published as a special issue of a leading scientific journal.