The Brazil Center, Center for Environmental Studies in Latin America, Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, Department of Geography and the Environment, Center for Global Educational Opportunities, and College of Liberal Arts present
AMAZON WEEK 2004, November 15-19
University of Texas at Austin
Amazon Week is an annual fall conference at the University of Texas at Austin which explores contemporary environmental, social, and cultural issues in the Amazon region from a cross-disciplinary perspective. All events are free and open to the public. For links, abstracts, and more information, visit the online program at http://www.utexas.edu/cola/llilas/centers/brazil/activities/amazonweek/2004.html or contact the Brazil Center at (512)471-8418 or brazil@uts.cc.utexas.edu.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15
Panel. Environmental and Social Research in the Amazon: Contextualizing Amazônia
Sinclair Suite, UNB 3.128, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Geographers study the interactions between humans and nature. The research of place-to-place environmental differences in the Amazon is fascinating, in addition to having implications for understanding additional change in biological diversity and with seasonal shifts.
These biophysical patterns in turn have profound implications for understanding how indigenous and colonizing people in the Amazon use their environment, for example, in terms of what land use practices are possible. Environmental and social research together allow for the better planning of future scenarios for the Amazônia of tomorrow.
Moderator
Kenneth R. Young, Geography and the Environment
Introducing the Amazon: Regional and Local Contexts for Adapting to Change
Presenters
Lars Pomara
Variation in Wildlife Communities across Landscapes and Regions in the Peruvian Amazon, and Consequences for Development and Conservation
Amy Norman
Multi-seasonal Characterization of Land Use/Land Cover in Iquitos, Peru
Mario Cardozo
Recent Deforestation in the Northeastern Peruvian Amazon: Drivers and Patterns
Santiago López
Assessing Land Use and Land Cover Change in Indigenous Communities: The Ecuadorian Achuar Case
David S. Salisbury
Amazonian Borderlands: Land Use, Livelihood Strategies, and Resource Use on the Political Frontiers of Brazil and Peru
Discussants
Kelley A. Crews-Meyer, Geography and the Environment
Rodrigo Sierra, Geography and the Environment
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17
Brown Bag. Politicizing the Rainforest: International Press Coverage of the Amazon
Carlos Potiara Castro
Universidade Estadual de Campinas and Visiting Researcher, LLILAS
CMA 4.128, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
European press coverage of the Brazilian Amazon has undergone a deep transformation over the last two decades as environmental concerns have entered mainstream political consciousness. As traditional political parties have integrated environmental issues into their platforms and green parties have won municipal elections throughout Europe, the tropical rainforest has gained tremendous political meaning.
Discussant: Rosental Alves, Knight Chair in Journalism
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17
Panel. Biodiversity and Society: Dynamic Relationships in the Amazon
GRG 102, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
The Amazon basin contains the world's most biologically diverse forests and is also home to numerous indigenous peoples and long-term colonists, all of who appear to have developed sustainable land use practices. There are clearly lessons to be learned from human-nature interactions in Amazônia that would better guide future development.
Keynote Lecture
Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez
Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, Columbia University
A Tradition of Change: The Dynamic Relationship between Biodiversity and Society in Sector Muyuy of the Peruvian Amazon
Biodiversity is a product of complex natural and anthropogenic interactions. The data in this paper describes this process in the Amazon floodplain of sector Muyuy, Peru. A smallholder tradition of adaptive change in this highly precarious and unstable landscape provides a dynamic foundation upon which biodiversity is produced, managed and conserved.
To examine this tradition of appropriate response to change, data was collected on land-cover dynamics using Landsat images and biodiversity inventories and household surveys of resource use technologies and conservation practices were carried out. Through complex agricultural technologies, sector Muyuy smallholders, known as ribereños, use a highly differentiated and dynamic environment to produce a great diversity of crops while creating habitats for endangered and over-exploited species of fish and river turtles, plants, and other species.
Pinedo-Vasquez and his co-authors conclude that meaningful attempts at biodiversity conservation must begin at the interface between ecological and social processes and incorporate locally developed knowledge and practice.
Discussants
Seth W. Garfield, History
Brian King, Geography and the Environment
Kenneth R. Young, Geography and the Environment
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18
Brown Bag. Study Abroad and Research Opportunities in the Amazon
With Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez and other Amazon Week speakers
Dean's Conference Room, GEB 3.312, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Talk to faculty and students currently involved in research projects across the Amazon basin in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Brazil, and get tips on making professional contacts, visas, funding opportunities, and more.
Toward Environmental Responsibility, An undergraduate and Graduate fellowship for intedisciplinary enviromental study in Brazil offered by the Environmental Science Institute and Institute for Latin American Studies, gives UT from a range of fields the opportunity to study at the Federal University of Para, in Belem, PA, Brazil with a $4,000 fellowship from FIPSE, US Department of Education. See http://www.geo.utexas.edu/esi/education/FIPSE/FIPSE.htm
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19
Geography Colloquium Series
GRG 102, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Rodrigo Sierra, Geography and the Environment
A Spatial Analysis of the Factors and Outcomes of Deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon
The present study is an attempt to expand the dimensions of regional level studies about land cover change and to understand what factors affect their specific outcomes. A key finding is the effect of regional markets on and their interaction with peri-urban areas. Results highlight the opportunistic logic of agricultural development in the region. To a large extent this opportunism is driven by state actions that do not seek agricultural efficiency but to facilitate resource extraction. (Full abstract)
The Brazil Center would like to thank the sponsors of Amazon Week 2004
Center for Environmental Studies in Latin America
Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies
Department of Geography and the Environment
Center for Global Educational Opportunities
College of Liberal Arts
Brazilian Foreign Service
CAPES, Brazilian Ministry of Education |
