Dynamics of Reforestation in Coupled Social-Ecological Systems: Modeling Land-Use Decision Making and Policy Impacts
Investigator(s)
Principal investigator:
Tom P. Evans, Department of Geography, Indiana University, Indiana, USA
E-mail: evans(at)indiana.edu
Abstract
The project explicitly examines human-environment interactions and how macro-scale trajectories of reforestation and deforestation emerge from the actions of heterogeneous household-level decision makers. The project focuses on multiple spatial and temporal scales with analysis at the household and county levels and relying on data from satellite imagery for contemporary analysis and aerial photography for a longer temporal extent. The project has a substantial modeling component that integrates forest dynamics and household decision-making modules within an agent-based framework. We will address the role of land trusts in the process of reforestation in study sites in US and Brazil, and examine the legal mechanisms that exist to facilitate the protection, conservation and development of forest area.
URL
None
