Forest-dependent people living across the Gran Chaco have been put on the map for the first time. As agribusiness expands into the dry forest on which they rely, the impact of that expansion on them has been difficult to document because their homesteads are dotted over 1 million km2. But now an international team of researchers, including a researcher from McGill University, has used high resolution satellite imagery to systematically identify these homesteads across this vast area for the first time. By looking at images taken over a period of 30 years, the researchers found that where agribusiness advanced, the livelihoods of forest-dependent people were threatened, resulting in their displacement and the disappearance of thousands of homesteads. The researchers believe that mapping forest-dependent people is a much-needed step to better consider them in future sustainability planning.
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Source: Phys.org