Julio Hasiniaina Andrianasolo Randrianarimanana
Research interests:
Science and Technology Studies, Enviromental Data Analysis, Statistical/Machine Learning
Geographic area:
Madagascar
Current Project:
Deforestation Monitoring in Madagascar: Integration of Socio-Political Analysis and Deep Learning Techniques
The research investigates the socio-political dynamics of deforestation monitoring in Madagascar, where deforestation rates threaten both biodiversity and local livelihoods. Despite technological advancements in remote sensing, existing approaches often overlook the social, economic, and political contexts driving land-use practices and conservation efforts. The problem of deforestation in Madagascar is not merely a technical issue but is deeply embedded in broader socio-political narratives. By integrating content analysis, case studies, discourse analysis, and Actor-Network Theory (ANT), this project critically examines how different actors, including local communities, government agencies, and international conservation organizations, interact with deforestation data. The study focuses on how narratives about deforestation are constructed, how power dynamics influence the production and use of forest data, and how these factors impact forest management policies. The research also incorporates cutting-edge Deep Learning techniques, specifically Siamese Convolutional Neural Networks (S-CNN), to improve land change detection. However, instead of treating this as merely a technical advancement, the study explores how such data technologies shape and are shaped by socio-political contexts. The findings aim to contribute to more nuanced and context-sensitive approaches to deforestation monitoring and forest conservation in Madagascar, with implications for global environmental governance.