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"Designed to help students understand the multiple levels at which human populations respond to their surroundings, this essential text offers the most complete discussion of environmental, physiological, behavioral, and cultural adaptive strategies available"--

This book--the first to apply the combined approaches of anthropology, geography, ecology, economics, and sociology to the analysis of the Amazon River region and its imminent development--explores the impact of development on Amazonian populations and the results of rural and urban growth strategies. The authors use the methodologies of environmen

"The past decade has witnessed a rapid growth in the development of research on the human dimensions of global environmental change. Environmental Social Science offers a synthesis of this new cross disciplinary enterprise, and provides a foundation for scholars and policy makers to address the urgent needs of these globally-scaled processes. With increasing evidence of climate change, loss of biodiversity, rapid deforestation in the tropics, and an impending crisis in availability of potable water, the book argues that environmental research demands a better understanding of the complexities of current human - environment interactions. In recommending a new collaborative approach that makes environmental theories and research methods accessible across the natural and social sciences, the book outlines a mutually beneficial research agenda for all concerned."--BOOK JACKET

Abstract From the construction of the Trans-Amazon Highway in the 1970's to the current construction of the third largest hydroelectric dam in the world at Belo Monte, the Brazilian Amazon has experienced the impact of large-scale infrastructure projects. When announced, all these projects purported to be the means to achieve progress, national integration, and economic development. The outcomes after several decades are less clear: national indebtedness, significant social and environmental impacts, and regional development taking second place to other goals such as energy production and national GDP. Solutions are suggested to reduce the negative impacts and achieve the goal of improved livelihoods and sustainable development without giving up on national development goals.