Exploring the complex conditions that give rise to a broad range of land-use challenges (Science Daily)

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100908101935.htm

Land-Use Expert Brings Satellite Data Down to Earth

ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2010) — By integrating remote satellite imagery with revelations from door-to-door interviews, Stanford University geographer Eric Lambin and his colleagues are exploring the complex conditions that give rise to a broad range of land-use challenges — from the reforestation of Vietnam to the spread of Lyme disease in Belgium.

For decades, orbiting satellites have peered downward to gather information about the surface of the Earth, giving scientists an unprecedented view of the planet. Using this data, researchers have created maps of deforestation and other land-use changes over time.

Satellites are precise tools, able to measure the rate of photosynthesis in a tiny clump of trees in the heart of the Amazon Basin. But satellite technology reveals little about the people living beneath the canopy who decide the fate of the trees around them. For a deeper understanding of how and why humans alter their environment, researchers need to talk face-to-face with the people who live there.

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