Stanford University produced a short documentary of our monitoring of plants and animals of the Amazon. Watch amazing scenes of caimans, capybaras, tapirs, giant anteaters, giant otters, macaws and other unusual creatures filmed during our field studies. The interview focuses on the successful monitoring of these animals by indigenous people. The take home message is that indigenous people use wildlife in a sustainable fashion.
Jose Fragoso gives lecture at Stanford’s Native American Cultural Center on indigenous spirituality and the sustainability of culture and the environment.http://events-prod.stanford.edu/events/499/49961/
Community discussion of potential problems of environmental monitoring by villagers (photo Jose Fragoso)
Jose Fragoso lectures at Stanford’s Center for Latin American Studies (link: http://events.stanford.edu/events/482/48261/) on what leads to success and failure in environmental and social monitoring by local people.
The lecture is highly recommended for academics, researchers, professionals and students interested in the success and failure of participatory and citizen science monitoring approaches
Village by an Amazonian river (photo by Jose Fragoso)
We have completed a major work describing the sustainability of hunting, farming (land use) and local livelihoods in the tropics. We devised an agent based computer simulation model and explored the relationships between the above mentioned elements to consider what the future may hold for tropical forest biota, ecosystems and peoples.
Iwamura T., Lambin E., Silvius K.M., Luzar J.B. & Fragoso J.M.V. 2014. Agent-based modeling of hunting and subsistence agriculture on indigenous lands: understanding interactions between social and ecological systems. Environmental Modelling & Software, 58: 109-127.
Jean Huffman and Jose Fragoso have completed a draft of their book “Wild Fruits of the Guiana Shield”. They hope to submit it for publication by spring of 2016.
Jane Read from Syracuse University and the Fragoso lab (Project Fauna) produced atlases for 23 villages of the Rupununi, Guyana. Each atlas provides a socio-economic and environmental profile of the village.
Atlases for Fairview, Wowetta, Paipong / Tiger Pond, Katoka, Kwaimatta, Tipuru, Aishalton, Achawib, Para Bara, Karaudarnau and Awarewanau can be downloaded from the North Rupununi District Development Board at: http://www.nrddb.org/projectfaunaaltlases
The US National Public Radio’s The World program reported on our return of the atlases to communities. The reporter, Elsa Yougstead actually traveled for two weeks with us through the villages. You can hear the report here:http://www.pri.org/stories/2011-08-25/slideshow-customized-atlases-amazon
Dr. Kye Epps instructs Makushi field researchers on measuring trees for carbon estimation (photo by Han Overman)
Mongabay’s Sanhya Sekar wrote two articles concerning the Fragoso Group’s work with indigenous people’s field measurements of tropical forest carbon stocks. Sekar writes “With financial incentives encouraging maintenance of carbon stocks and the increased popularity of carbon trading between countries, a forest has become economically a lot more than a clump of trees that supplements livelihoods. A forest now has an intrinsic value by just existing, a value that can be measured in economic terms.”
Low hanging clouds over the Amazon forest (photo Jose Fragoso)
Isabel Jubes of KZSU 90.1 FM Radio Stanford interviews Jose Fragoso concerning the State of the Amazon Forest. KZSU broadcasts Latino and Hispanic Culture to the world.