Dr Danilo Urzedo was a Postdoctoral Research Associate on the Smart Forests project in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge from 2021-22. In 2022, he begins a researcher position with CSIRO in Australia. Originally hailing from Brazil, Danilo draws his research on multiple perspectives of political ecology and environmental justice to investigate the interplay between tropical forest conservation and rural development. He is particularly concerned with understanding how emerging digital practices are transforming community participation to stop deforestation and upscale forest restoration actions in tropical regions.

Danilo obtained his bachelor’s degree in Forest Engineering at the Federal University of São Carlos before completing a master’s degree in Tropical Forest Conservation at the University of São Paulo, with research undertaken at North Carolina State University. Following a period working as a community forester with Indigenous peoples and smallholders in the Brazilian Amazon, he moved to Australia to undertake a PhD in Human Geography at the University of Sydney investigating the multi-scalar governance of landscape restoration in the Amazon. Upon completion in 2020, Danilo was awarded a Research Associate position in the ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration at Curtin University, Western Australia, investigating Indigenous-led seed supply systems for land restoration during the mine closure process.

Danilo’s experience working with Indigenous and rural communities to co-design grassroots actions for tropical forest management has led to significant local engagement and livelihood improvements. He had a substantial contribution in establishing one of the largest community restoration networks in the world: The Xingu Seed Network. This network is recognised globally for engaging hundreds of seed collectors, particularly women and youth, to supply tonnes of diverse native seeds for landscape restoration throughout the Amazon agricultural frontier.

Publications

Urzedo, Danilo Ignacio, Jeffrey Neilson, Robert Fisher, and Rodrigo Junqueira. “A Global Production Network for Ecosystem Services: The Emergent Governance of Landscape Restoration in the Brazilian Amazon.” Global Environmental Change 61 (2020): 102059.

Urzedo, Danilo Ignacio, Fatima Piña-Rodrigues, Rafael Feltran-Barbieri, Rodrigo Junqueira, and Robert Fisher. “Seed Networks for Upscaling Forest Landscape Restoration: Is It Possible to Expand Native Plant Sources in Brazil?” Forests 11, no. 3 (2020): 259.

Urzedo, Danilo Ignacio, Robert Fisher, Rodrigo Junqueira, and Dannyel Sá. “Indigenous Participation in the Native Seed Market: Adapting Ethnic Institutions for Ecological Restoration in the Southeastern Amazon.” In Indigenous Amazonia, Regional Development and Territorial Dynamics: Contentious Issues. Edited by Walter Leal Filho, Victor T. King, and Ismar Borges Lima. Berlin, Germany: Springer, 2020.

Schmidt, I.B., D.I. Urzedo, F.C.M. Piña-Rodrigues, D.L.M. Vieira, G.M. de Rezende, A.B. Sampaio, and R.G.P. Junqueira. “Community-Based Native Seed Production for Restoration in Brazil - the Role of Science and Policy.” Plant Biology 21, no. 3 (2019): 389-397.

Urzedo, Danilo Ignacio, Robert Fisher, Fatima Piña-Rodrigues, Julia Freire, and Rodrigo Junqueira. “How Policies Constrain Native Seed Supply for Restoration in Brazil.” Restoration Ecology 27, no. 4 (2019): 768-774.

Urzedo, D.I., E. Vidal, E.O. Sills, and F.C.M. Piña-Rodrigues. “Tropical Forest Seeds in the Household Economy: Effects of Market Participation among Three Sociocultural Groups in the Upper Xingu Region of the Brazilian Amazon.” Environmental Conservation 43, no. 1 (2016): 13–23.