▶ Addresses a wide range of timely environment, economic and energy topics ▶ A forum to review, analyze and stimulate the development, testing and implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies at regional, national and global scales ▶ Contributes to real-time policy analysis and development as national and international policies and agreements are discussed and promulgated ▶ 94% of authors who answered a survey reported that they would definitely publish or probably publish in the journal again

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change

Intensive mechanized agriculture in the Brazilian Amazon grew by >3.6 million hectares (ha) during 2001–2004. Whether this cropland expansion resulted from intensified use of land previously cleared for cattle ranching or new deforestation has not been quantified and has major implications for future deforestation dynamics, carbon fluxes, forest fragmentation, and other ecosystem services. We combine deforestation maps, field surveys, and satellite-based information on vegetation phenology to characterize the fate of large (>25-ha) clearings as cropland, cattle pasture, or regrowing forest in the years after initial clearing in Mato Grosso, the Brazilian state with the highest deforestation rate and soybean production since 2001. Statewide, direct conversion of forest to cropland totaled >540,000 ha during 2001–2004, peaking at 23% of 2003 annual deforestation. Cropland deforestation averaged twice the size of clearings for pasture (mean sizes, 333 and 143 ha, respectively), and conversion occurred rapidly; >90% of clearings for cropland were planted in the first year after deforestation. Area deforested for cropland and mean annual soybean price in the year of forest clearing were directly correlated (R2 = 0.72), suggesting that deforestation rates could return to higher levels seen in 2003–2004 with a rebound of crop prices in international markets. Pasture remains the dominant land use after forest clearing in Mato Grosso, but the growing importance of larger and faster conversion of forest to cropland defines a new paradigm of forest loss in Amazonia and refutes the claim that agricultural intensification does not lead to new deforestation.

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Cropland expansion changes deforestation dynamics in the southern Brazilian Amazon

Brazil's Amazon forest remained largely intact until the "modern" era of deforestation began with the inauguration of the Transamazon Highway in 1970. Amazonian deforestation rates have trended upward since 1991, with clearing proceeding at a variable but always rapid pace. Amazonian forests are cut for various reasons, but cattle ranching predominates. The large and medium-sized ranches account for about 70% of clearing activity. Profit from beef cattle is only one of the income sources that make deforestation profitable. Forest degradation results from logging, ground fires (facilitated by logging), and the effects of fragmentation and edge formation. Degradation contributes to forest loss. The impacts of deforestation include loss of biodiversity, reduced water cycling (and rainfall), and contributions to global warming. Strategies to slow deforestation include repression through licensing procedures, monitoring and fines. The severity of penalties for deforestation needs to be sufficient to deter illegal clearing but not so great as to be inapplicable in practice. Policy reform is also needed to address root causes of deforestation, including the role of clearing in establishing land claims for both small and large actors.

http://philip.inpa.gov.br/publ_livres/Preprints/2005/Cons%20Biol-Amazon%20deforestation%20-%20FINAL.pdf

Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia: History, Rates, and Consequences

Agricultural expansion and climate variability have become important agents of disturbance in the Amazon basin. Recent studies have demonstrated considerable resilience of Amazonian forests to moderate annual drought, but they also show that interactions between deforestation, fire and drought potentially lead to losses of carbon storage and changes in regional precipitation patterns and river discharge. Although the basin-wide impacts of land use and drought may not yet surpass the magnitude of natural variability of hydrologic and biogeochemical cycles, there are some signs of a transition to a disturbance-dominated regime. These signs include changing energy and water cycles in the southern and eastern portions of the Amazon basin.

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The Amazon basin in transition

Land-use history interacts with natural forces to influence the severity of disturbance events and the rate and nature of recovery processes in tropical forests. Although we are far from an integrated view of forest recovery processes, some generalizations can be made. Recovery of forest structure and composition is relatively rapid following disturbances that primarily impact forest canopies, such as hurricanes. Recovery is considerably slower following disturbances that heavily impact soils as well as aboveground vegetation, such as bulldozing, heavy or long-term grazing, and severe fires, often with long-lasting effects on species composition. The landscape matrix plays a critical role in local recovery processes. Proximity of disturbed areas to remnant forest patches promotes more rapid recovery, which depends heavily on seed dispersal. Recovery of aboveground biomass is constrained by soil fertility and texture across regions as well as across soil types within a region. Restoration of soil fertility may be a prerequisite for forest recovery on sites with severely degraded soils. Despite evidence of rapid forest recovery following large-scale deforestation, many degraded areas of today’s tropics will require human assistance to recover forest structure, species composition, and species interactions typical of mature tropical forests.

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Tropical forest recovery: legacies of human impact and natural disturbances

Road paving, fire regime feedbacks, and the future of Amazon forests

Sensitive development could protect Amazonia instead of destroying it.

(2002) Frontier Expansion in the Amazon: Balancing Development and Sustainability Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development: Vol 44, No 3, pp 34-44

Frontier Expansion in the Amazon: Balancing Development and Sustainability

The past few years have not been particularly auspicious in environmental terms; there is increasing evidence of a fairly widespread environmental crisis, increasing the pressure to rethink many of the concepts related to environment and development. Among the important concepts that need to be revisited and further explored is ‘sustainable development’. This paper examines the roots of the sustainable development concept and argues that within the current international political economic system it would be nearly impossible to adopt development strategies that are conducive to truly sustainable development. Four hypotheses about international political economic structures and their relationship to sustainable development are examined. The analysis builds on the linkages between historical processes, international political economic structures, international institutions and the development process posited by globalist theories. The paper concludes that profound changes in economic, political and social structure would be necessary to foster sustainable development. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Sustainable development: is it achievable within the existing international political economy context?

Since the energy shortage in 2001, there has been renewed interest in energy-generation projects in Brazil. Policy options under consideration include expansion of natural gas exploration and hydropower generation in the Amazon. This article analyzes environmental opposition to two projects, the Urucu pipeline and the Belo Monte Dam. Despite significant environmental and social costs, development of energy resources is a critical political issue. Proponents tend to be politically well connected, are willing to face strong opposition, and pursue projects over a long time period. Opposition strategies have had limited effectiveness because of the project's larger context and because there are few incentives for compromise solutions. However, polarization is unlikely to lead to lasting solutions and reduced environmental impact. This may be an important consideration when fighting against other proposed high-profile regional projects with larges-scale environmental implications, such as the Madeira dams and ...

Georgia O. Carvalho

Papers

Road paving, fire regime feedbacks, and the future of Amazon forests

Sensitive development could protect Amazonia instead of destroying it.

Frontier Expansion in the Amazon: Balancing Development and Sustainability

Sustainable development: is it achievable within the existing international political economy context?

Environmental Resistance and the Politics of Energy Development in the Brazilian Amazon