Large industrial soybean fields in midst of Cerradao forest.
Photo of an agroindustrial field being prepared for soy bean planting. The forest surrounding the field is an indigenous area in Brazil.
The ATBC members Joe Fragoso and Kirsten Silvius with a team from Stanford University scientists (Eric Lambin and Jeffrey Luzar; Takuya Iwamura, who conducted the work at Stanford and is now at Tel Aviv University;) recently published a paper in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment: Socio–environmental sustainability of indigenous lands: simulating coupled human–natural systems in the Amazon
“People have thrived deep within the Amazon rainforest for hundreds of years without contact with the outside world. The constant encroachment of modern civilization, however, is putting the long-term sustainability of these people, and the ecosystems they inhabit, at risk.
Now a team of Stanford researchers has developed a computer model that can help understand the ways that activities such as clear-cutting and welfare programs might impact the future of the land and the people who live inside protected areas of the rainforest. They hope the simulation serves as a useful tool for governments and other organizations that interact with the world’s indigenous people.”
Read more about it at: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2016/march/amazon-model-fragoso-031116.html