Habitat Mapping and Spatiotemporal Overlap of the Amazon River Dolphin, Fishers, and Tourism in the Central Region of the Brazilian Amazon

Posted on November 29, 2023

SIMMONS – Habitat Mapping and Spatiotemporal Overlap of the Amazon River Dolphin, Fishers, and Tourism in the Central Region of the Brazilian Amazon Cadi Fung, Brad Peter, and Cynthia Simmons Article first published online: 29 November 2023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/conservation3040034 ABSTRACT: Over the past several decades, concern has grown over the rising mortality of the Amazon […]

Large Mining Projects and Socio-Environmental Impacts: Economic and Socio-Environmental Dynamics in Barcarena (Pará, Brazil)

Posted on October 24, 2023

SIMMONS – Large Mining Projects and Socio-Environmental Impacts: Economic and Socio-Environmental Dynamics in Barcarena (Pará, Brazil) Raimundo da Costa Almeida, Christian Nunes da Silva, João Marcio Palheta da Silva, Aghane de Carvalho Antunes, Cynthia S. Simmons, Daniel Araújo Sombra Soares Article first published online: 20 October 2023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/jssm.2023.165030 ABSTRACT: This paper analyzes the socio-environmental […]

The Amazon is not safe under Brazil’s new president – a roads plan could push it past its breaking point

Posted on March 23, 2023

WALKER – The Amazon is not safe under Brazil’s new president – a roads plan could push it past its breaking point Robert Walker Article first published online: 22 March 2023 URL: https://theconversation.com/the-amazon-is-not-safe-under-brazils-new-president-a-roads-plan-could-push-it-past-its-breaking-point-200691 ABSTRACT: Conservationists breathed a sigh of relief when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won Brazil’s presidential election in the fall of 2022. His […]

Geography Colloquium: The Land-Grab Industry in the Brazilian Amazon – the stealing of public lands with the government’s approval

Posted on March 9, 2021

Speaker: Gabriel Cardoso Carrero PhD Student, Department of Geography, University of Florida Thursday, March 11, 2021 2:50-3:50 PM (Period 8) Turlington Hall 3018 and Zoom, livestreamed on YouTube University of Florida All are welcome to attend. Gabriel is a Ph.D. Candidate in Geography at the University of Florida. With a B.Sc. in Biology and an […]

Geography Colloquium: Assessing the impact of trade agreements on land change in Brazil’s Amazonia

Posted on February 12, 2021

Speaker: Dr. Eugenio Arima Associate Professor, Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin Thursday, February 18, 2021 2:50-3:50 PM (Period 8) Turlington Hall 3018 and Zoom, livestreamed on YouTube University of Florida All are welcome to attend. Dr. Eugenio Arima is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and the […]

Deforestation Trajectories on a Development Frontier in the Brazilian Amazon: 35 Years of Settlement Colonization, Policy and Economic Shifts, and Land Accumulation

Posted on September 16, 2020

CARRERO – Deforestation Trajectories on a Development Frontier in the Brazilian Amazon: 35 Years of Settlement Colonization, Policy and Economic Shifts, and Land Accumulation Gabriel Cardoso Carrero, Philip Martin Fearnside, Denis Ribeiro do Valle, & Cristiano de Souza Alves Article first published online: 16 SEPT 2020 Environmental Management DOI: 10.1007/s00267-020-01354-w ABSTRACT: We examine deforestation processes […]

Geography Colloquium: The Struggle for Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon

Posted on September 8, 2020

Speaker: Aline Carrara PhD Student, Department of Geography, University of Florida Thursday, September 10, 2020 2:50-3:50 PM (Period 8) Zoom, livestreamed on YouTube University of Florida All are welcome to attend. This dissertation addresses the creation and destruction of indigenous territories (ITs) in the Brazilian Amazônia by studying the formation, expansion, and maintenance of ITs, […]

What Florida Can Learn from the Amazon Fires

Posted on June 4, 2020

Last Fall, Dr. Robert Walker talked with the Florida Museum of Natural History about What Florida Can Learn from the Amazon Fires. Robert Walker, a professor of Latin American geographers and geography in the University of Florida Center for Latin American Studies, grew up in Clearwater, Fla. He remembers driving down long stretches of I-75, peering out at mile after mile […]

Drs. Simmons and Walker Invited Speakers at the Alexander Von Humbolt Seminar 2019

Posted on May 26, 2020

Dr. Cynthia Simmons and Dr. Robert Walker were invited speakers at the Alexander Von Humbolt Seminar 2019 at the Center for Environmental Geography Research (CIGA), National University of Mexico, Michoacan (UNAM). Small rural producers, forests and globalization in Latin America In the first part of the conference the socioeconomic and environmental effects of the entry […]

Indigenous people may be the Amazon’s last hope

Posted on February 27, 2020

CARRARA, IRIGARAY, SIMMONS, WALKER – Indigenous people may be the Amazon’s last hope Robert T. Walker, Aline Carrara, Cynthia Simmons, and Maira Irigaray Article first published online: 27 FEB 2020 The Conversation ABSTRACT: Brazil’s divisive President Jair Bolsonaro has taken another step in his bold plans to develop the Amazon rainforest. A bill he is […]

Dynamic Amazonia – Lessons for a Changing World

Posted on February 21, 2020

Dr. Cynthia Simmons presented as an invited featured speaker at the International Colloquium on Socio-Environmental Politics at Rhodes House, Oxford University, on 31 Jan 2020 in a talk titled Dynamic Amazonia: Lessons for a Changing World. Amazonia is critical to the global environment given its store of biodiversity and its repository of carbon. Since the […]

Geography Colloquium: Resistance, Global Justice, and Protection of Indigenous Territories in the Amazon: the ipereğ ayũ movement of the munduruku indigenous people

Posted on February 7, 2020

Speaker: Maíra Irigaray Castro PhD Student, Department of Geography, University of Florida Thursday, February 13, 2020 2:50-3:50 PM (Period 8) Turlington Hall Room 3018 University of Florida All are welcome to attend. The Munduruku Movement Ipereğ Ayũ (MMIA), which in Munduruku translates to “We are strong; We know how to protect ourselves and all We […]

Agronomic or contentious land change? A longitudinal analysis from the Eastern Brazilian Amazon

Posted on January 27, 2020

SIMMONS, WALKER – Agronomic or contentious land change? A longitudinal analysis from the Eastern Brazilian Amazon Stephen P. Aldrich,Cynthia S. Simmons, Eugenio Arima, Robert T. Walker, Fernando Michelotti, Edna Castro Article first published online: 27 JAN 2020 PLOS ONE DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227378 ABSTRACT: Since 1984, nearly 1,000 people have been killed in the Brazilian Amazon due […]

Geography Colloquium: Avoiding Amazonian Catastrophes – Prospects for Conservation in the 21st Century

Posted on November 14, 2019

Avoiding Amazonian Catastrophes – Prospects for Conservation in the 21st Century Speaker: Dr. Robert Walker Professor, Department of Geography, University of Florida Thursday, March 14, 2019 2:50-3:50 PM (Period 8) Turlington Hall Room 3018 University of Florida All are welcome to attend. New infrastructure threats confront the Amazon. Resulting development could push its forest past […]

Geography Colloquium: Amazons Within The Amazon – A Multiscale Assessment of Urbanization

Posted on November 8, 2019

Amazons Within The Amazon – A Multiscale Assessment of Urbanization Speaker: Dr. Roberta Mendonça De Carvalho PhD Alumna, Department of Geography, University of Florida Thursday, November 14, 2019 2:50-3:50 PM (Period 8) Turlington Hall Room 3018 University of Florida All are welcome to attend. Urbanization in the Brazilian Amazon has reached 80%. This is a […]

Foro Urgente: “The Amazon Is Burning—Why It Should Matter to You”

Posted on September 14, 2019

GeoGator Dr. Cynthia Simmons joined colleagues at University of Texas, Austin’s Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies in a forum entitled Foro Urgente: “The Amazon Is Burning—Why It Should Matter to You”. The recent surge in Amazon forest fires has sounded the international alarm, eliciting protests from European heads-of-state, scientists, Hollywood stars, […]

Dr. Robert Walker’s #RedditAMA on the #Amazon

Posted on August 28, 2019

UF Geography Professor Dr. Robert Walker recently hosted a Reddit AMA on the Amazon. Take a look at what he had to say and join the conversation!

UF Researchers Forecast Accelerated Deforestation and Displacement of Indigenous Peoples in Brazilian Amazon

Posted on February 28, 2019

GAINESVILLE, FL – Amazonian deforestation continues to concern the world community, especially as the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA) begins to displace indigenous peoples and traditional communities. While the narrative surrounding the loss of Amazonian ecosystems is often framed as the penetration of capitalist relations into a resource […]

Amazon deforestation, already rising, may spike under Bolsonaro

Posted on January 30, 2019

UF Geography’s Dr. Robert Walker discusses indigenous rights, conservation, and global climate change in his latest piece in The Conversation: Over the past 25 years that I have been conducting environmental research in the Amazon, I have witnessed the the ongoing destruction of the world’s biggest rainforest. Twenty percent of it has been deforested by […]

A 21st Century Agenda in Support of Amazonian Conservation

Posted on January 23, 2019

Associate Professor Dr. Cynthia Simmons and a team of international scholars – including UF Geography’s Dr. Robert Walker, Mike Waylen, and Aghane Antunes – present a strategy for achieving sustainable development in Amazonia, given global climate change and the massive infrastructure program planned for the region, in their latest paper Science in support of Amazonian […]

Discipline and Develop: Destruction of the Brazil Nut Forest in the Lower Amazon Basin

Posted on December 20, 2018

ANTUNES, SIMMONS, WALKER, WAYLEN – Discipline and Develop: Destruction of the Brazil Nut Forest in the Lower Amazon Basin Cynthia S. Simmons, Robert Walker, Stephen Aldrich, Eugenio Arima, Ritaumaria Pereira, Edna Maria Ramos de Castro, Fernando Michelotti, Michael Waylen, & Aghane Antunes Article first published online: 20 DEC 2018 The Annals of the American Association […]

Science in support of Amazonian conservation in the 21st century: the case of Brazil

Posted on November 14, 2018

ANTUNES, SIMMONS, WALKER, WAYLEN – Science in support of Amazonian conservation in the 21st century: the case of Brazil Cynthia S. Simmons, Lisa Famolare, Marcia N. Macedo, Robert T. Walker, Michael T. Coe, Brett Scheffers, Eugenio Arima, Rafael Munoz-Carpena, Denis Valle, Clyde Fraisse, Paul Moorcroft, Marcelo Diniz, Marcia Diniz, Claudio Szlafsztein, Ritaumaria Pereira, Cesar Ruiz, […]

Endangered Amazon – An Indigenous Tribe Fights Back Against Hydropower Development in the Tapajós Valley

Posted on February 28, 2018

One of Amazonia’s most pristine waterways, the Tapajós River, is under a development threat that holds implications for the entire basin. This threat stems from an infrastructure plan proposed by the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), in coordination with complementary projects on the part of its 12 member states. UNASUR’s Initiative for the Integration […]

Endangered Amazon: An Indigenous Tribe Fights Back Against Hydropower Development in the Tapajós Valley

Posted on February 28, 2018

SIMMONS, WALKER – Endangered Amazon: An Indigenous Tribe Fights Back Against Hydropower Development in the Tapajós Valley Robert Walker and Cynthia Simmons Article first published online: 01 MAR 2018 Environment Magazine ABSTRACT: One of Amazonia’s most pristine waterways, the Tapajós River, is under a development threat that holds implications for the entire basin. This threat […]

Dr. Simmons presents 2017 Aula Magna at Federal University of Pará, Brazil

Posted on July 7, 2017

Dr. Cynthia Simmons presents a series of invited lectures at a research meeting hosted by the Department of Geography, Federal University of Pará (Universidade Federal do Pará, UFPA), in Pará, Brazil. Dr. Simmons presented “Socio-Ecological Transformations in the Anthropocene: Re-imagining the Amazon?” at the research meeting, and presented this year’s Aula Magna for the doctoral […]

Amazon Dams Network, Geography Department, TCD Program & UF Law School Awarded a Faculty Interdisciplinary Seed Grant from the University of Florida Biodiversity Institute

Posted on March 17, 2017

The newly created UF Biodiversity Institute (UFBI) awarded a Faculty Interdisciplinary Seed Grant to a joint effort by UF faculty, students and Brazilian collaborators of the Amazon Dams Network (Rede Barragens Amazônicas -ADN/RBA), hosted in the Tropical Conservation and Development Program (TCD) in the Center for Latin American Studies, in partnership with the UF Department […]

Forest conservation: Remember Gran Chaco

Posted on February 3, 2017

NOSS – Forest conservation: Remember Gran Chaco Tobias Kuemmerle, Mariana Altrichter, Germán Baldi, Marcel Cabido, Micaela Camino, Erika Cuellar, Rosa Leny Cuellar, Julieta Decarre, Sandra Díaz, Ignacio Gasparri, Gregorio Gavier-Pizarro, Rubén Ginzburg, Anthony J. Giordano, H. Ricardo Grau, Esteban Jobbágy, Gerardo Leynaud, Leandro Macchi, Matias Mastrangelo, Silvia D. Matteucci, Andrew Noss, José Paruelo, Maria Piquer-Rodríguez, Alfredo […]

Geography Colloquium: Contentious Land Change in Amazonia – Implications for Global Environmental Change

Posted on January 11, 2017

Contentious Land Change in Amazonia – Implications for Global Environmental Change Speaker: Dr. Cynthia Simmons Associate Professor, Department of Geography, University of Florida Thursday,January 12, 2017 3:00-3:50 PM (Period 8) Turlington Hall Room 3012 University of Florida All are welcome to attend.

To Keep a River Running

Posted on November 16, 2016

WALKER – To Keep a River Running Robert Walker Article first published online: 1 OCT 2016 Earth Island Journal It came in low, guns bristling through the open bay. Such a strange apparition, like a giant insect, almost familiar but for its unnatural sound and fury and the faces staring down at them, striped in the black […]

Smallholders, Agrarian Reform, and Globalization in the Brazilian Amazon: Cattle versus the Environment

Posted on July 7, 2016

SIMMONS, WALKER – Smallholders, Agrarian Reform, and Globalization in the Brazilian Amazon: Cattle versus the Environment Ritaumaria Pereira, Cynthia S. Simmons, and Robert Walker Article first published online: 7 JUL 2016 Land DOI: 10.3390/land5030024 ABSTRACT: Smallholder farming in the Brazilian Amazon has changed markedly over the last few decades, following a pervasive swing to cattle production observed […]

Belo Monte and the Face of Development We Refuse To See

Posted on April 8, 2016

PhD student Maíra Irigaray Castro‘s latest article for Amazon Watch details her social justice work, teaching nonviolent resistance workshop in the vicinity of the Belo Monte Dam, in Brazil. Read about Maíra’s experiences at Belo Monte and the Face of Development We Refuse To See.

Integrating Research and Practice to Promote More Resilient Family Agriculture

Posted on March 18, 2016

Geography PhD candidate Mr. David Hanson will be participating in a panel discussion at the “Integrating Research and Practice to Promote More Resilient Family Agriculture” workshop on March 30th. The workshop is a collaboration between the Tropical Conservation & Development Program, the Center for Latin American Studies, and the UF Brazil Institute. The objectives of the workshop are: to […]

Spatial Patterns of Frontier Settlement: Balancing Conservation and Development

Posted on March 15, 2016

SIMMONS, WALKER – Spatial Patterns of Frontier Settlement: Balancing Conservation and Development Cynthia Simmons, Robert Walker, Stephen Perz, Eugenio Arima, Stephen Aldrich, Marcellus Caldas Article first published online: MAR 2016 Journal of Latin American Geography DOI: 10.1353/lag.2016.0011 ABSTRACT: Amazonian deforestation has declined recently, but Brazil’s infrastructure plans continue to target the region. In the interest of […]

Response to Corridors for people, corridors for nature

Posted on February 3, 2016

WALKER – Response to Corridors for people, corridors for nature Robert Walker, Eugenio Arima, Stephen Perz, Carlos Souza eLetter first published online: 3 FEB 2016 Science ABSTRACT: An article in Science by Haddad points to the positive and negative impacts of building roads in developing regions. Transportation investments promote development, but they can also cause environmental degradation. We agree […]

How much is enough? An integrated examination of energy security, economic growth and climate change related to hydropower expansion in Brazil

Posted on January 1, 2016

MOSSA – How much is enough? An integrated examination of energy security, economic growth and climate change related to hydropower expansion in Brazil Fernando Almeida Prado Jr., Simone Athayde, Joann Mossa, Stephanie Bohlman, Flavia Leite, Anthony Oliver-Smith Article first published online: January 2016 Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2015.09.050 ABSTRACT: Reconciling economic growth and energy supply […]

Geography Colloquium: The Last Agricultural Frontier in the Brazilian Amazon: Impacts on Smallholders and the Environment

Posted on September 21, 2015

The Last Agricultural Frontier in the Brazilian Amazon: Impacts on Smallholders and the Environment Geography Colloquium Speaker: Mr. Williams Castro Graduate Student, Geography Thursday, September 24, 2015 3:00-3:50 PM (Period 8) Turlington Hall Room 3012 University of Florida All are welcome to attend.

Effects of road infrastructure on forest value across a tri-national Amazonian frontier

Posted on August 24, 2015

MARSIK, SOUTHWORTH – Effects of road infrastructure on forest value across a tri-national Amazonian frontier Christopher Baraloto, Paula Alverga, Sufer Baéz Quispe, Grenville Barnes, Nino Bejar Chura, Izaias Brasil da Silva, Wendeson Castro, Harrison da Souza, Iracema Elisabeth de Souza Moll, Jim Del Alcazar Chilo, Hugo Dueñas Linares, Jorge Gárate Quispe, Dean Kenji, Matthew Marsik, Herison Medeiros, […]