Science has a critical role to play in guiding more sustainable development trajectories. Here, we present the Sustainable Amazon Network ( Rede Amazônia Sustentável , RAS): a multidisciplinary research initiative involving more than 30 partner organizations working to assess both social and ecological dimensions of land-use sustainability in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. The research approach adopted by RAS offers three advantages for addressing land-use sustainability problems: (i) the collection of synchronized and co-located ecological and socioeconomic data across broad gradients of past and present human use; (ii) a nested sampling design to aid comparison of ecological and socioeconomic conditions associated with different land uses across local, landscape and regional scales; and (iii) a strong engagement with a wide variety of actors and non-research institutions. Here, we elaborate on these key features, and identify the ways in which RAS can help in highlighting those problems in most urgent need of attention, and in guiding improvements in land-use sustainability in Amazonia and elsewhere in the tropics. We also discuss some of the practical lessons, limitations and realities faced during the development of the RAS initiative so far.

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In this paper we discuss the causes of non-adherence to reversible contraceptives, especially hormonal methods, among women in rural Santarém in the Brazilian Amazon. The analysis is based on questionnaires with 398 women and visits to health centers. We consider the motives reported by women who: never used contraception; used some method in the past; and who at the time of the survey were using a different method from the ones they used in the past. The results indicate a rejection of hormonal contraception and a preference for female sterilization, an option possibly influenced by the characteristics of health services in the region. The side effects of hormonal contraceptive use reported by part of the interviewees contribute to a generalized fear of the side effects even among women who have never used such methods. To improve women's health services in the Amazon, we recommend further studies of the relationship between reported side effects and available services and prescriptions, as well as an analysis of women's discourse and perceptions.

Resumo: Processos demográficos na Amazônia permanecem explicados a partir da dinâmica da fronteira agrícola, um referencial aplicado à conjuntura da década de 1970. Buscando verificar sua capacidade de refletir a contemporaneidade da região, o trabalho apresenta um estudo sobre a mobilidade populacional em Santarém, um caso pertinente pela complexidade da configuração rural e recente inserção do agronegócio. Dados dos Censos Demográficos do IBGE e entrevistas em 311 propriedades rurais familiares foram usados para múltiplas análises migratórias. O resultado destacou a relevância da circulação interna na dinâmica do município, além de revelar que o meio rural é mais estável e menos impactado pela migração do que o urbano. Ao contrário do que a reflexão sobre fronteira usualmente preconiza, o êxodo rural teve baixo impacto no volume populacional e suas análises apontaram para novas tendências na composição de quem os realiza. A verificação de categorias de mobilidade latentes na bibliografia reforçou que a fronteira é plural e que seu referencial teórico é capaz de explicar somente parte das transformações rurais. A reconfiguração do meio rural só será amplamente compreendida quando contemplada a mobilidade intra-rural e a imigração rural, que tem na sua essência as relações de família, a identidade com rural e a dissolução da dicotomia rural-urbana. Palavras-chave: Migração rural. Mobilidade intramunicipal. Reconfiguração do rural. Urbanização.Abstract: Demographic processes in the Amazon are still explained by the dynamics of the agricultural frontier, which is a theoretical approach developed in the 1970s. This study considers population mobility in Santarém (PA) in order to assess the ability of the frontier model to represent the actual situation of the region. Santarém is a relevant case given the complexity of its rural aspect and the recent ascendency of agribusiness. The data are from the IBGE Demographic Census and from surveys conducted on 311 rural properties. The results highlight the importance of internal mobility in the municipality and reveal that the countryside is more stable and less affected by migration than the urban region. The small impact of rural exodus on the size of the rural population go against the classical assumptions concerning frontier regions. The attestation of certain types of mobility that are usually absent in the bibliographical sources reinforces that the frontier is diverse and its theoretical framework can explain rural transformations only partially. The concept of rural environment can only be satisfactorily redefined if intra-rural mobility and rural in-migration are added to the framework. Family relationships, the identification with the countryside and the dissolution of the rural-urban dichotomy lie at the foundation of these dynamics.

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Pensando de forma integrada a relação população-ambiente, o artigo aborda os estudos sobre dinâmica populacional e mudança no uso e cobertura da terra, com foco na contribuição e nos desafios da Demografia. Aproximando-se do tema em meados dos anos 1990, a Demografia teve como principal contribuição destacar a importância dos componentes populacionais nos modelos, antes, colocados como secundários e sob uma perspectiva simples. Demógrafos brasileiros dedicados a questões ambientais, embora tivessem prioritariamente a temática urbana no seu escopo, colaboraram de maneira indireta para a desenvoltura do campo, ao proporem uma releitura sobre relações população-ambiente. O artigo parte do caso da Amazônia brasileira, mostrando como a população foi explorada nas teorias sobre mudanças nos usos e coberturas da terra, passando pelo viés do crescimento populacional durante o período de fronteira agrícola, o modelo de ciclo de vida do domicílio (fecundidade e composição do domicílio) na década de 1990 e, mais recentemente, o enfoque no componente migratório. Para a Demografia, aponta-se como essencial o aprofundamento nos elementos demográficos que não o volume e a inclusão do espaço e seus efeitos. Para a construção da Ciência da Mudança da Terra, destacam-se a incorporação de dinâmicas urbanas nas investigações, a adoção de uma metodologia multiescalar e o exercício do diálogo entre as diversas disciplinas, incorporando mais sistematicamente a contribuição da Demografia.Palavras-chaves: Demografia. Mudança no uso e cobertura da terra, Amazônia.

The objective of this article is to present Polarization of Agrarian Structure as a single, more complete representation than models emphasizing rural exodus and consolidation of land into large agropastoral enterprises of the dynamics of changing land distribution, land use / cover, and thus the rural milieu of Amazonia. Data were collected in 2003 using social surveys on a sample of 587 lots randomly selected from among 5,086 lots on a cadastral map produced in the 1970s. Georeferencing of current property boundaries in the location of these previously demarcated lots allows us to relate sociodemographic and biophysical variables of the surveyed properties to the changes in boundaries that have occurred since the 1970s. As have other authors in other Amazonian regions, we found concentration of land ownership into larger properties. The approach we took, however, showed that changes in the distribution of land ownership is not limited to the appearance of larger properties, those with 200 ha or more; there also exists substantial division of earlier lots into properties with fewer than five hectares, many without any agropastoral use. These two trends are juxtaposed against the decline in establishments with between five and 200 ha. The variation across groups in land use / land cover and population distribution shows the necessity of developing conceptual models, whether from socioeconomic, demographic or environmental perspectives, look beyond a single group of people or properties.

This article describes a method to collect data on the spatial organization of land use within a rural property as part of a large-scale project examining the linkages between household demographic change and land use and land cover change in the Brazilian Amazon. Previous studies used several different spatial approaches, including maps and satellite images, to improve the information collected in standard survey questionnaires. However, few used sketch maps to obtain information from the point of view of the survey respondent about the spatial organization of land use and infrastructure. We developed a method of creating sketch maps with respondents to describe their properties. These maps then provided a spatially referenced database of the social and land use organization of the properties from the perspective of the respondent. Systematic rules allowed sketches to be used in subsequent spatial analyses in combination with satellite images and Global Positioning System reference points Keywords sketch maps; land use; Brazilian Amazon; GIS The method presented in this article was implemented as part of a large-scale survey of households designed to elicit information about household demography, economy, and land use. The larger project links these data to remotely sensed (satellite) data on land cover and to other biophysical data from a variety of sources. In doing so, it follows practices for linking social survey data to satellite data developed in the population and environment research community in the past two decades (Moran et al. 1994;Liverman et al. 1998;Castro et al. 2002;Fox et al. 2003;Rindfuss et al. 2004;Turner, Moran, and Rindfuss 2004;Evans, VanWey, and Moran 2005). Among these practices is using sketch maps during interviews to establish rapport between interviewer and respondent and to improve comprehension of land use in the survey (Turner et al. 2001;Bilsborrow, Barbieri, and Pan 2004;Brondizio 2005 The study of population and environment has depended on linked social survey and satellite data to understand the role of human demography in land use and land cover (LULC) change. Many researchers have developed methods for linking the two sources of data, particularly for accurately identifying the boundaries of properties (or fields) and linking these boundaries to satellite-based land cover classifications. These researchers have usually treated the survey data as spatially explicit only in the sense that they are linked to a property; they have not attempted to understand the spatial organization of the property with survey data. These boundaries are then overlaid on a classified satellite image, which provides information about the spatial organization of land cover within the property, with the classification based on ground truth points collected in the course of survey data collection but not necessarily in the survey itself.This set of practices leads to a privileging of satellite data as a more accurate measure of land use (inferred from land cover classifications or from hyb...