The LENDEV lab studies how local land use and livelihood decisions influence and are influenced by dynamics at multiple scales, and what this means for development and sustainability.

Some questions at the center of our inquiry are:

• How do modern agricultural frontiers emerge and expand, and can a better understanding of the decision-making of farmers pushing these frontiers help us anticipate new ones?
• What are the implications for land governance of growing flows of goods and capital between countries and regions?
• What are the strategies developed by different groups of actors to cope with rapid change in frontier environments, and can we support them for greater sustainability?

We use a variety of methods from geography and land systems science to answer these questions, including remote sensing and geographic information systems, ethnographic fieldwork, household surveys, statistical modelling and qualitative analysis. We work at small to medium scales, from the household to the firm and the municipality or region. We strive to integrate approaches in order to provide a complete picture of the topic considered.

Understanding the expansion of commodity frontiers
The challenges and contradictions of sustainable development are nowhere more apparent than in commodity frontiers — places where commodity agriculture expands over natural environments —, which some see as an opportunity for economic growth, while other perceive as an ecological and social catastrophe. Agricultural frontiers have been studied for a long time, but their dynamics are changing: in recent decades they have been increasingly driven by capitalized agriculture operating with minimal government intervention. We study the implications of this shift through the case of the Gran Chaco, a dry woodland ecosystem that has experienced among the highest deforestation rates in the world over the last two decades (see our recent papers on commodity frontiers  and on transnational producer cohorts in the Gran Chaco).

© Google Earth

© trase.earth

Land governance in a connected world
In response to rapid deforestation associated with agricultural expansion, various countries have increased restrictions on forest conversion to agriculture. However, these restrictions are mostly local, whereas large agricultural companies often operate in several regions or countries, and tend to move capital in response to changes in investment conditions. Trade and capital flows connect distant places in ways that make it harder to predict what the effect of local changes in regulations will be. In this line of research, we take various methodological angles on the challenges posed by this connectivity to land governance (see our recent papers on the restructuring of soy and beef production and trade under changing deforestation regulations and the role of supply-chain initiatives in reducing deforestation).

Adaptation and sustainability in commodity frontiers
Commodity frontiers undergo rapid changes in social and environmental conditions, which make them particularly vulnerable to environmental degradation and social conflicts. In this context, smallholders who inhabit these frontier areas often cannot compete on equal terms with expanding commercial agriculture. While some manage to halt expansion locally, e.g. by successfully filing land claims, in most cases they are forced to develop alternative livelihood strategies to accommodate these new landscapes. In this line of investigation, we try to understand the many ways in which these people adapt their livelihoods in rapidly evolving frontiers.

© Yann le Polain de Waroux

©Jordi Busqué

The role of culture in land use change
Studies of land use change commonly assume that decisions to use land in a certain way are made by economically rational actors trying to maximize profits. This assumption ignores the fact that many of the decisions people make are influenced by values, beliefs, norms - things that, for lack of a better word, we call "culture". In order to approach the question of how culture influences land-use, we study the land-use dynamics of Old-Colony Mennonites, a religious group with a long history of migration and territorial expansion in Latin America. Looking at the way that religious and cultural imperatives guide land-use decisions in this particular community can, we believe, help scholars of land use change better understand how culture may shape land-use decisions worldwide.

If these topics spark your interest, and you'd like to explore them with us, see the Join the group page!