Call for postdoctorate candidates with a strong quantitative background in economics of land-use change and rural development, and a keen interest in interdisciplinary questions relating to sustainable land-use and human-environment relationships in the Brazilian Amazon.
Projeto Amazônia Sustentável is a multidisciplinary research project concerned with understanding the challenges and opportunities surrounding sustainable development issues in the Brazilian Amazon. Work is focused in the regions of Santarém and Paragominas in the eastern Brazilian Amazon and is conducted in close partnership with local government and civil society groups including farmer’s unions and leading environmental NGOs.
The main aim of this project is to evaluate patterns of biodiversity, ecosystem service provision, economic production and human well-being associated with the dominant land-uses that characterize the active deforestation zone in the Brazilian Amazon. Project findings will contribute towards a novel evidence basis for developing improved management strategies, help guide more effective approaches to complying with environmental legislation, as well as identify opportunities for conservation and revenue generation through emerging certification standards and ecosystem service markets. Insights will be gained into the trade-offs and potential synergies that determine the environmental and development costs and benefits associated with given land-use choices.
The project was initiated in 2009 and developed through the integration of a number of independent projects focused on different aspects of land-use sustainability in the Amazon region. Field work was started in 2010 and due to be completed in June of 2011. Working through multiple field campaigns the project has collected one of the most comprehensive databases yet available in any tropical forest nation on changes of biodiversity, ecosystem service production and socio-economic condition. Fieldwork is focused at the watershed scale and encompassing a gradient of forest loss, occupation history and land-use intensification. Within the socio-economic work we are collecting farm-scale data on producer characteristics (demography, migration, well-being), farm management and productivity, as well as the uses and costs of private forest reserves from approximately 400 properties in each study region.
The project is coordinated jointly between Embrapa and the Goeldi Museum in Brazil, and the Universities of Cambridge and Lancaster in the UK, and includes collaborators from nearly 30 research institutions and NGOs across Brazil and internationally. Core funding comes from the Brazilian Science Council (CNPq), Embrapa (Macroprograma 2), the Natural Environmental Research Council (UK), UK government Darwin Initiative, with additional support from The Nature Conservancy, the Royal Society and the British Council.
We have an exciting opportunity for funding one or more post-doctorate positions on the project in the fields of land economics and sustainable development.
We have an exciting opportunity for funding one or more post-doctorate positions on the project in the fields of land economics and sustainable development.These will be funded by FAPESP, the science council of the state of São Paulo, in partnership with the world-leading Faculty for Economics and Administration at the University of Sao Paulo Candidates need to have a strong interest in interdisciplinary problems and the ways in which economic analyses can be integrated effectively with environmental data. We are particularly interested in candidates who have a strong quantitative background and who can help lead on econometric and spatial modeling of land-use change and patterns of land-rents within and between different production systems. However, the focus of work can be developed to integrate personal interests and expertise of a candidate within the broad remit of project work. There is the possibility of positions from between six months and two years, with the potential for further extension. A standard FAPESP posdoctorate salary is R$5300 per month (equivalent to £2000) with additional funding for fieldwork and travel. Note that the salary is tax-free.
Interested candidates should write to the project coordination team at the below addresses. More details and background to the project can be supplied on request. The deadline for selecting candidates and beginning the funding application process is the 30
Toby Gardner, University of Cambridge: tobyagardner@gmail.com
Luke Parry, Lancaster University: lukeparry1@gmail.com
Jos Barlow, Lancaster University: josbarlow@gmail.com
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário