All scientists involved in the SUSAM-project have been active in carrying out basic and application-oriented research in Amazonia for years. Against the background of the existing regional competence, the theoretical and methodological approaches and the particular research interest of the respective subject discipline supplement each other in an ideal manner. Traditionally, geographical research is mainly preoccupied with problems of economic and social spatial structures and their change, environmental problems, regional settlement patterns and the analysis of spatial planning strategies. Analyses from the political and social sciences primarily deal with approaches to and effects of public policies against the background of regional political structures and conflict situations within the regional context. The NGOs involved in the project focus on questions of the regional organisation of civil society, creation of political awareness, implementation of concrete projects and political consulting.

All project partners have long-term experience with project evaluations and political consulting in Amazonia. Through this, close ties have developed to various user groups, e.g. to decision-makers on different political levels, to regionally operating NGOs and to other groups from the regional economy.



Eberhard-Karls-University of Tübingen, Department of Geography, Centre for Research on Latin America, Germany (Project-coordinator)


Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Geociências (Department of Geography), Brazil


London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Social Policy,
United Kingdom


École Normale Supérieure, Département de Géographie, Paris, France


Friends of the Earth - Amazon Programme, Brazil


Instituto Latinoamericano de Investigaciones Sociales, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES-ILDIS),
La Paz, Bolivia


Prof. Dr. H.C.F. Mansilla, La Paz, Bolivia