ESPP Student Wins National Science Foundation Grant

Contact: Jessica A. Knoblauch, News Writer for Environmental Science and Policy Program: (517) 432-3823 or knoblau7@msu.edu

March 21, 2007

Stephen Aldrich, a doctoral student in the Department of Geography and the Environmental Science and Policy Program, recently received a dissertation improvement grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF is an independent federal agency created to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense.

Alrich's dissertation research focuses on the landless movements in the Brazilian Amazon and their association with deforestation. The landless movements involve landless rural workers who occupy lands they claim are "unproductive" in order to force the government to redistribute the land and put it to good use. These movements have a lot of popular support in Brazil because many people believe much of the land in the Amazon is either poorly used or not used at all, explained Aldrich. Examples of poorly used land in the Amazon include large ranches (often exceeding 8,000 hectares) where only very small cattle herds are kept or land grants made for extractive activities which are no longer undertaken.

The people involved in the movements are often from urban areas, don't have any land or jobs, and want to be able to provide their own means of production. They try to force reform by occupying the land in the hopes it will provide an incentive for the governmental agency in charge of land reform to act. If they can prove the land is not being used, the government will redistribute the land.

The unused land is often owned by private land owners who received huge grants of land from the government through land speculation, development projects and even political favors. Aldrich hypothesizes that these private land owners cut down forests on their land to prove the land is being used and thereby prevent a governmental redistribution.

Aldrich will map deforestation patterns from 1984 to 2006 using Landsat imagery, which supplies high resolution visible and infrared information, and geographic information systems (GIS). Using these technologies, Aldrich will create regression models that will illuminate the causes of deforestation.

His research won't stop there, however. Aldrich plans to spend one month during the summer in Brazil conducting interviews with land ranch owners concerning deforestation. He explains that the maps can only tell part of the story and that it's necessary to talk to the land owners in Brazil to know the reasons behind the data. "Nobody's looked at why land owners make these decisions," said Aldrich. "It's important that their story be uncovered too."

The NSF grant will help fund Aldrich's research expenses, including airfare to Brazil, transportation and an additional field assistant. Aldrich hopes his research will help inform future developments in land reform in Brazil. "I'm just trying to get the whole story," said Aldrich