Wednesday, March 26th at Columbia University

8:30     Welcome: Introduction to the conference. Tom Rudel, Laura Schneider, and Maria Uriarte

9:00     Sustainable Land Architecture. B.L. Turner

9:30     What assures successful outcomes of tropical forest rehabilitation? Wil de Jong.

10:00   Conditions for a sustainable land use: evidence and the case of Vietnam. Eric F. Lambin, Patrick Meyfroidt, and Perrine Raquez

10:30   Coffee Break

11:00   Greening the landscape? The implications of environmental policy for land and livelihoods in southern Mexico. Rinku Roy Chowdhury

11:30   Climatic, ecological, and economic components of a near-term Amazon forest dieback, and opportunities for avoiding it. Daniel Nepstad

12:00   Panel Discussion: Challenges and opportunities in land use sustainability

12:30   Lunch

1:30     Land Use Transitions and Land Use Efficiency: the Direct and Indirect Consequences of the 'soy boom' in Subtropical Argentina. HR Grau, NI Gasparri and TM Aide

2:00     A model for landscape biodiversity based on regeneration units. Hans Vester

2:30     The role of ecology and culture in determining the trajectory of tropical forest recovery. Deborah Lawrence

3:00     Panel Discussion: Theoretical innovations in land use transitions

3:30     Coffee Break

4:00     Group Discussion

6:00     Dinner NYC

8:30     Bus to New Brunswick (Leaving from Hotel)

Thursday, March 27th at Rutgers University

8:30     Shades of Grey in Tropical Land-Use Transitions: View from the Ground. Francis E. Putz

9:00     An untidy land-cover: Invasion of Bracken Fern in the shifting cultivation systems of Southern Yucatán, Mexico. Laura Schneider and Nelun Fernando

9:30     Prospects and challenges in assessing ecological groups of tree species during tropical forest succession. Robin L. Chazdon & Robert S. Capers, Bryan Finegan, and Vanessa Boukili

10:00     Socioeconomic and environmental consequences of the expansion of biofuel production in the state of São Paulo, Brasil. María Uriarte

10:30   Coffee Break

11:00   Theory in frontier development and agrarian change:  Competing views and scope for integrated approaches. Pablo Pacheco

11:30   Shifting Cultivation and Forest Transition in the Tropics: Research Advances and Remaining Challenges. Amy Ickowitz & Jacqueline Geoghegan

12:00   Looking at the flexibility and resilience of land-use systems practiced by caboclos and their impact on land cover in the Amazonia estuarine region. Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez

12:30   Panel Discussion: Understanding agro-ecological change in the tropics

1:00   Lunch

1:30     Non-linear groundwater and agricultural land use change in Rajasthan, India.
Trevor Birkenholtz

2:00     The Urbanizing Amazon: Exploring the complexities of urbanization, changing markets, and forest cover. C. Padoch, E. Brondizio, S. Costa, M.Pinedo-Vasquez, R. R. Sears and A. Siqueira.

2:30     Research on tropical forest recovery in metropolitan regions: methodological considerations and challenges. Sandra Baptista

3:00     Panel Discussion: Urbanization as a land-use transition

3:30     Coffee Break

4:00     Group Discussion

5:30     Cocktail Reception & Dinner - Ruth Dill Crockett Johnson Building (162 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick, NJ 08901)

Friday, March 28th at Rutgers University

8:30     A Theory of Forest Resurgence. Susanna Hecht.

9:00     Forest Transitions and the Energy Ladder in India from the Early 1990’s to Present. Ruth DeFries

9:30     Evaluating forest transition pathways in Asia – Case studies from Nepal, India, Thailand and Cambodia. Jane Southworth, Lin Cassidy, and Harini Nagendra

10:00     A feminist reassessment of forest transition theory:  Risks and opportunities for study of forest recovery at the household level. Jessica Kelly

10:30   Coffee Break

11:00   Forest Evolution with Multiple Uncontrolled Drivers: broadly relevant causal claims & their insufficiency for transitions. Alexander Pfaff and Robert Walker

11:30   Major land-use transitions in Chilean Mediterranean and Temperate ecosystems: From the end of the glaciation to the Global Market Age.  J. J. Armesto, C. Smith-Ramírez, R. Rozzi, D. Manuschevich & P.A. Marquet

12:00   Panel Discussion: Forest transition theory, how to use it to explain tropical forest transitions?

12:30   Group Discussion