Political Ecology of Tropical Forest Landscapes
Cattle pasture in a deforested area of the Brazilian Amazon, February 2014. Credit: Gregory M. Thaler.
Led by Dr Gregory Thaler, this research programme examines the political dimensions of social and ecological change in forest landscapes of Latin America and across the global tropics. Tropical deforestation is central to global processes of climate change, biodiversity loss, and the extinction or transformation of human cultures and livelihoods. Most deforested land in the tropics is converted to agriculture, making the intersection of agricultural and environmental politics a crucial area of research.
Prior research in this programme investigated policies aiming to prevent deforestation and combat climate change by increasing agricultural productivity, a strategy known as “land sparing.” Comparative ethnographic research carried out over the course of six years in Brazil, Bolivia, and Indonesia culminated in the publication in 2024 of Dr Thaler’s book Saving a Rainforest and Losing the World: Conservation and Displacement in the Global Tropics. The book provides a comprehensive critique of land sparing policies, revealing that their apparent successes are illusions, achieved by displacing deforestation to new frontiers.
Current research takes place under the umbrella of the Brazil Natural Resource Governance Initiative, co-directed by Dr Thaler with colleagues at the University of Georgia (USA) and Federal University of Pará (Brazil). These collaborations partner with local communities and grassroots organisations to understand and respond to climate challenges for small farmers in the Brazilian Amazon, focusing especially on agroforestry systems that combine trees with crops and livestock to deliver multiple social and ecological benefits. Through transdisciplinary research with international researchers, civil society organisations, policy makers, and communities, participants are growing knowledge and building networks for more just and resilient agroforest futures.
