Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Amazonian States Map Threatened Borderlands, David S. Salisbury, A. William Flores De Melo, Jorge Vela Alvarado, Bertha Balbin Ordaya

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Recently, the Regional Initiative to Integrate South America has begun promoting a transboundary road that would bisect the forested borderlands and connect the two largest cities in the region, while the state governments seek to promote a direct ecological railroad alternative. Both transportation initiatives promise to alter forests and rivers and transform economies and cultures, but these projects also lack the base geographic information necessary to understand their potential transboundary impacts and benefits.

Taller Transfronterizo Para La Amazonía Peruana Y Brasileña, David S. Salisbury, A. Willian Flores De Melo, Bertha Balbín Ordaya

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Con el fin de establecer alianzas institucionales y gubernamentales, se llevó a cabo el Taller de “Integración de Datos y Desarrollo de Capacidades Técnicas para Mitigar los Desafíos Ambientales en la Amazonía Peruana y Brasileña”, el cual contó con la participación de las instituciones e investigadores de Ucayali y el estado de Acre en Brasil, con el fin de buscar estrategias para desarrollar una base de datos espaciales y elaborar los mapas que sirvan de apoyo a la toma de decisiones en el corto, mediano y largo plazo en las dos regiones fronterizas ya mencionadas.

Portrayal Of The Proposed Pucallpa-Cruzeiro Do Sol Interconnection In The Media, Christine Cassaro

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Takahashi (2010) argues the evolution of the media environment, the rise of huge media conglomerates and the nature of media outlets to seek profit maximization have come to dominate, limiting the ability of mass media to truly fulfill its role in democratic societies. Whether we recognize it or not, the media plays a crucial role in our knowledge of what is going on in our local and global communities. In the case of environmental issues and concerns such as climate change, the media is crucial in building public perception. Public support is often necessary for the implementation of important policies, …

Road Construction And Amur Tigers (Panthera Tigris Altaica) In The Russian Far East, Elizabeth Cohan

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

The Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), also known as the Siberian tiger, is an endangered species in the Russian Far East that has experienced a sharp population decline during the past century (Tian et al. 2011, 3166). Roads may be one of the primary factors for the dramatic decline of tiger population because the species most sensitive to roads tend to be large carnivores that rely on large movement ranges and have low reproductive rates (Fahrig and Rytwinski 2009, 1 and Tian et al. 2011, 3166). Tigers (Panthera tigris) are an example of such fragile large …

Impacts Of Infrastructure Related To Tourism On Machu Picchu, Brian Carlson

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Each year millions of people from around the world travel to new and exciting destinations. These world travelers go off to every corner of the globe hoping for an experience that will bring adventure, exposure to new and different cultures, and for some people, just the opportunity to escape the monotony of every day life. Whatever the reason for their travel these tourists represent a growing global industry and many countries advertise the variety of opportunities that a trip to their particular country would provide. However, with the growth of the tourism industry comes an increase in impacts that tourists …

Freeway Deconstruction: Impacts And Prospects, Jerry Giordano

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Freeway deconstruction signifies an abrupt shift in urban policy (Switalski 2004). After 50 years of the greatest road-building binge in world history, cities since the 1960’s have more seriously considered the benefits of road removal and have increasingly incorporated it into their urban planning toolkit (Preservation Institute 2007). Each decade since the 1960’s includes more deconstruction proposals and projects. Priorities are shifting away from designing cities to enhance mobility, and toward promoting livability (Switalski 2004). My research question is: Is Richmond is a suitable location for a successful freeway deconstruction project?

Paper prepared for the Environmental Studies Senior Seminar/Geography Capstone.

Ecotourism Along Pucallpa-Cruzeiro Do Sul Corridor: Support For Biodiversity Conservation, Will Gordon

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

The paper addressing the issue of biodiversity conservation along a newly proposed transportation corridor from Pucallpa, Peru and Cruzeiro do Sul, Brazil. Current plans for this corridor call for the construction of a highway, but this paper supports a railway as a less intrusive means. In order to support biodiversity conservation along the new highway or railway a hypothetical ecotourism lodge located in the Sierra del Divisor Peruvian National Park is examined. Ecotourism is defined by The International Ecotourism Society as, “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people” (TIES, 1990). Ecotourism …

The Effect Of Land Use Change On Exposure To And Transmission Of Pathogens, Mary Nagle

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

According to WHO, within the last 20 years, at least 30 new diseases have emerged to threaten the health of hundreds of millions of people (McMichael 2004). Most of these emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are zoonotic, as catalogued by the Institute of Medicine (Daszak et al. 2001). Understanding the way in which human interactions with the environment facilitate vector-host interactions may improve preventative measures and public health practices. Human-induced environmental change plays a major role in the emergence of zoonotic diseases (McMichael 2004, Eisenberg et al. 2007), often because these changes increase human-vector interactions (McMichael 2004). Malaria is the world’s …

All Roads Lead To Fragmentation: Exploring Habitat Connectivity And Wildlife Underpasses Through The Florida Panther And The Jaguar, Carroll Courtenay

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

The global transportation system is the “giant now embracing us,” and its omnipresent nature influences ecosystems worldwide (Forman, 1998: iv). The diversity of environmental effects associated with transportation systems challenges researchers to focus on concrete aspects of intertwined ecological systems. Examining habitat fragmentation associated with transportation networks, however, exposes some of the most direct impacts of these networks on fauna populations. As transportation networks expand, road corridors hinder habitat connectivity, which can greatly impact habitat health and genetic diversity in ecosystems (Corlatti et al., 2009; Tewksbury et al., 2002). Animal-vehicle collisions, decreased reproductive success, movement constraints, decreased colonization, and increased …

The Effects Of Sedimentation From Unpaved Roads On Coral Reefs: An Analysis Of St. John, Usvi And Koh Tao, Thailand, Dillon Vassallo

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

As the tourism industry drastically expanded on St. John, US Virgin Islands, developers constructed hundreds of unpaved dirt roads to facilitate the fast-paced population growth on the island. During rain storms, the unpaved roads created runoff from the mountainous terrain of St. John, and sedimentation smothered the coral reefs surrounding the island. Due to the geography of the island, coral reef characteristics, and dirt road network, the biggest threats to coral reefs around the island was considered sedimentation from unpaved roads. Sedimentation drastically threatens the ability for reefs to survive. This study uses existing research on the sedimentation from unpaved …

Chicago’S Transportation History: Informing The Future Of Sustainable Transportation Planning, Asha Phadke

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Throughout Chicago’s history, urbanization has led to an influx of people migrating from the rural to urban environment, due to the increased economic opportunity in the city. With this influx of population, the role and capacity of Chicago to provide sustainable transportation becomes essential. During the mid 1800s Chicago experienced the largest population growth in the world, starting with 4,000 inhabitants and growing to over 90,000 inhabitants by the end of the century. Since then, Chicago has reached a more stable population of 2.6 million people today. The transportation history of Chicago is linked to this population growth and has …

The Geopolitics Of The Brazil’S Amazonian Border, Peter C. Spoehr

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

The days of national security concerns being bound by geographic locality are long gone, replaced by intervention minded multi-lateral organizations, NGOs with influence surpassing some countries and aggressive military force projection strategies. Along with traditional nation states, these institutions must all navigate the complex global dialogue attempting to address global economic and environmental issues. The degradation of the Amazon and its effect on the global environment is a primary subject of this dialogue and Brazil has taken notice. Challenges to the geopolitical control of the Brazilian Amazon by these multi-level actors have only served to increase Brazilian assertion of its …

Iirsa And Energy Connectivity In The Amazon: Can Infrastructure Solve Energy Poverty In The Region?, Keon Monroe

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

About 85 percent (EIA 2010) of Brazil’s electricity comes from hydropower plants. Recent efforts are expanding the use of hydropower throughout the country and across its Amazonian region. Major programs, both private and in the government, are financing expansion of dams, as well as other transportation infrastructure. The largest infrastructure group in South America, the Initiative For the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA), defines its purpose as an aim to strengthen transport, energy, and communications infrastructure under a regional prospective (IIRSA 2011). Thus presumptuously expanded and new infrastructure is essential to providing a better quality of life. …

Existing Knowledge, Understudied Ecosystems, And Rapid Development: The Environmental Impacts Of Roads On The Wetlands Of The Pantanal, South America, Ethan Strickler

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Wetlands are particularly diverse habitats because they are home to both aquatic and terrestrial flora and fauna. Wetlands are important for conservation because they are often home to many rare and endangered species. For example, in the United States alone, over a third or all rare or endangered species reside in wetlands. Wetlands offer many benefits for both humans and wildlife because they are hydrologic modifiers, wildlife centers, and beneficial for both water quality and nutrient cycling (Forman, et al. 2003). As wildlife centers, wetlands are the most botanically productive habitats on earth and support high abundance and diversity of …

Political Ecology: An Analysis Of Peruvian Government Discourses In Support Of Road Projects, Juan Boettner

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

In this paper, I will explore the ways in which the Peruvian government supports road projects through various well-developed arguments. I will look at how authorities present and/or support road projects in different temporal and spatial scales. I will try to answer the following questions:

1) How has the Peruvian government’s arguments for improved connectivity changed over time?
2) What are the implications of such changes?

Answering these questions will help explain the government’s role and biases regarding economic development in Peru. Furthermore, answers to these questions can help us understand past positions and predict what the government’s position may …

Road Construction As A Facilitator For Dengue Fever Transmission, Kate Billups

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

Although I plan to focus on the impact of road construction in tropical and subtropical regions on the spread and contraction of dengue fever, I hope to use this focus as a model that could help to create policies that would mitigate other diseases spread through insect contact. In places that road and railway construction have already become a part of the permanent foundation, medical infrastructure should be put into place to ensure that populations at increased risk to contract dengue fever have access to medical care to diminish rates of dengue hemorrhagic fever.

Paper prepared for the Environmental Studies …

Un Análisis Multi-Escalar Del Sistema Forestal Peruano, J. Boettner, G. Sager-Gellerman, E. Strickler, C. Courtenay, R. Gilb, W. Gordon, G. Leonard, J. Marconi, M. Mcgovern, M. Nagle, C. Paiz Tejada, Andrew Pericak, M. Price, D. Vassallo, R. Yowell, David S. Salisbury

Geography and the Environment Poster Presentations

Perú tiene 67 millones de hectáreas de bosque, que viene a ser más del 53% de la superficie total del país (OIMT, 2010). La extracción maderera es la propulsora principal de la economía dentro de la Amazonía Peruana, generando empleos para comunidades rurales y urbanas (Sears y Pinedo-Vásquez, 2011). Sin embargo, a menudo los empresarios madereros explotan a sus trabajadores a través de un sistema de préstamos (De la Rosa Tincopa, 2009). Alrededor de 1354 comunidades indígenas poseen títulos de propiedad en la región (OIMT, 2010), pero muchas comunidades no tienen los títulos para su territorio que muchas veces se …

Transboundary Political Ecology In The Peru-Brazil Borderlands: Mapping Workshops, Geographic Information, And Socio-Environmental Impacts, David S. Salisbury, A. William Flores De Melo, Pedro Tipula Tipula

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Development, resource, and settlement frontiers inspired by national policies and global demand continue to expand into the international boundary lands of Amazonia. National policies promote development and conservation projects on lands already inhabited and managed. Regional governments are increasingly frustrated by the inadequate and outdated geographic information available to solve overlapping claims and improve planning in sensitive border regions. The resulting combination of inappropriate policies, contested resources, and poor geographic information in the borderlands create impacts not only for national, regional, and local landscapes and livelihoods but also foreign relations due to transboundary effects. This article uses a transboundary political …