Collaborative Research: Territorializing Exploitation Space and the Fragmentation of the Amazon Forest

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Despite considerable advances in understanding the causes and consequences of tropical deforestation, less is known about how it manifests itself spatially across landscapes in the Amazon. Recently the study of landscape ecology has provided much insight into the ecological consequences of forest fragmentation and loss. The project seeks to complement this ecological knowledge by illuminating the human dimensions of deforestation, examining the social and behavioral processes that generate forest fragmentation. It will do so by addressing fragmentation in Amazônia associated with roads built by loggers. Specifically, the project will develop theory about forest fragmentation by examining the network formation processes of logging roads. To accomplish this, it will develop, implement, and test spatial models that generate road networks. The project seeks to base modeling efforts on empirical information about the human drivers involved, and will therefore obtain survey data to specify model assumptions, parameters values, and constraints. Project fieldwork is needed because much remains unknown about the spatial decision-making of loggers. Of interest to the project is the manner in which multiple loggers territorialize their "exploitation" domains, as a function of local power relations. Prior research suggests that this could be a key spatial factor in explaining and potentially predicting patterns of forest fragmentation. The project possesses significant societal value beyond its contribution to basic science. Given ongoing destruction of Amazonian and other tropical forests, calls for their conservation will increase in the future. Land use policy for tropical regions will necessarily address the role of logging there, so understanding the behavior of loggers is crucial. Clearly, hardwoods represent a valuable Amazonian resource, which is all the more reason that they be logged sustainably, and that associated environmental impacts be kept to a minimum. To do this, policy must be based on a better understanding of how loggers impact the forest. The project will provide new and basic information in this regard, essential to the formulation of effective environmental policy, and to maintaining the long-term integrity of tropical forests.