Comparative Study of Land Use in Southeast Asia

Project Leader:UMEZAKI, Masahiro (Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo)

Collaborators: OKUBO, Satoru (Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
         TOMITA, Shinsuke(Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
         KONO, Yasuyuki (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University)
         NAKAYA, Tomoki (College of Letters,Ritsumeikan University)
         NISHITANI, Masaru (Archaeology Division, National Museum of Japanese History)
         FURUSAWA, Takuro (Network for Education and Research on Asia, The University of Tokyo)
         HOSHIKAWA, Keisuke (Center for Integrated Area Studies, Kyoto University)
         KOZAN, Osamu (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University)

Term:2009-2010

 
Outline of Research:

Paddy fields in Yunnan Province. Fishponds have been dug in-between the fields

Paddy fields in Yunnan Province. Fishponds have been dug in-between the fields

This study examines the interrelationships between human and equatorial high-biomass environment, by analyzing biological resource generated commodity chains at local/regional/global levels. Project members with different academic backgrounds accumulate case studies on the flows of high-biomass products such as timber, mammal meat, bird’s nest, rattan, gutta-percha, rubber, oil palm, and acacia, each of which would make clear the way of equatorial resource utilization and its commoditization. Integrating those case studies, we aim to create a new methodology of multi-scale area studies of human-nature interactions.

 

Description:

Paddy cultivation in an inland of Hainan Island, China

Paddy cultivation in an inland of Hainan Island, China

Newly-developed remote sensing techniques (i.e., object-based classification on the basis of GRAPH theory, texture analyses, and simple ways to remove terrain effects on satellite images) will be investigated for usefulness in field studies in Southeast Asia. In occasional workshops, project members will compile longitudinal land use data to clarify the structures of causes that have triggered land use change in the region. We also plan to organize fieldwork for a better exchange of ideas and problems.

 

Production of vanilla beans has become a new source of earning cash fo the people in Sepik region of Papua New Guinea

Production of vanilla beans has become a new source of earning cash for the people in Sepik region of Papua New Guinea

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