Journal ArticleDOI
Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia: History, Rates, and Consequences
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TLDR
Brazil's Amazon forest remained largely intact until the "modern" era of deforestation began with the inauguration of the Transamazon Highway in 1970, but deforestation rates have trended upward since 1991, with clearing proceeding at a variable but always rapid pace.Abstract:
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.read more
Citations
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Global fire emissions and the contribution of deforestation, savanna, forest, agricultural, and peat fires (1997-2009)
G. R. van der Werf,James T. Randerson,Louis Giglio,Louis Giglio,G. J. Collatz,Mingquan Mu,Prasad S. Kasibhatla,Douglas C. Morton,Ruth DeFries,Yufang Jin,T. T. van Leeuwen +10 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used a revised version of the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford-Approach (CASA) biogeochemical model and improved satellite-derived estimates of area burned, fire activity, and plant productivity to calculate fire emissions for the 1997-2009 period on a 0.5° spatial resolution with a monthly time step.
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Global land use change, economic globalization, and the looming land scarcity
Eric F. Lambin,Patrick Meyfroidt +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the displacement, rebound, cascade, and remittance effects that are amplified by economic globalization accelerate land conversion, and that sound policies and innovations can reconcile forest preservation with food production.
Journal ArticleDOI
The emergence of land change science for global environmental change and sustainability
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Journal ArticleDOI
Cropland expansion changes deforestation dynamics in the southern Brazilian Amazon
Douglas C. Morton,Ruth DeFries,Yosio Edemir Shimabukuro,Liana O. Anderson,Egidio Arai,Fernando Del Bon Espírito-Santo,Ramon M. Freitas,Jeffrey T. Morisette +7 more
TL;DR: 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.
Journal ArticleDOI
Slowing Amazon deforestation through public policy and interventions in beef and soy supply chains
Daniel C. Nepstad,David G. McGrath,C. Stickler,Ane Alencar,Andrea A. Azevedo,Briana Swette,Tathiana Bezerra,Maria DiGiano,João Shimada,Ronaldo Seroa da Motta,Eric Armijo,Leandro Castello,Paulo M. Brando,Matthew C. Hansen,Max McGrath-Horn,Oswaldo de Carvalho,Laura L. Hess +16 more
TL;DR: The recent 70% decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon suggests that it is possible to manage the advance of a vast agricultural frontier Enforcement of laws, interventions in soy and beef supply chains, restrictions on access to credit, and expansion of protected areas appear to have contributed to this decline, as did a decline in the demand for new deforestation as mentioned in this paper.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Large-scale impoverishment of Amazonian forests by logging and fire
Daniel C. Nepstad,Adalberto Verssimo,Ane Alencar,Carlos A. Nobre,Eirivelthon Lima,Paul Lefebvre,Peter Schlesinger,Christopher Potter,Paulo Moutinho,Elsa Mendoza,Mark A. Cochrane,Vanessa Brooks +11 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present field surveys of wood mills and forest burning across Brazilian Amazonia which show that logging crews severely damage 10,000 to 15,000 km2 of forest that are not included in deforestation mapping programmes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Fire science for rainforests
TL;DR: The current state of tropical fire science is discussed, recommendations for advancement are made and pan-tropical forest fires will increase as more damaged, less fire-resistant, forests cover the landscape.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Future of the Brazilian Amazon
William F. Laurance,Mark A. Cochrane,Scott Bergen,Philip M. Fearnside,Patricia Delamônica,Christopher Barber,Sammya D'Angelo,Tito Fernandes +7 more
TL;DR: The authors developed two computer models that integrate spatial data on deforestation, logging, mining, highways and roads, navigable rivers, vulnerability to wildfires, protected areas, and existing and planned infrastructure projects, in an effort to predict the condition of Brazilian Amazonian forests by the year 2020.
Investigating positive feedbacks in the fire dynamic of closed canopy tropical forests.
Mark A. Cochrane,Ane Alencar,Mark Schulze,Carlos Souza,Paul Lefebvre,Daniel C. Nepstad,Charles H. Wood,R. Porro +7 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of fire in the Amazon have been investigated and the authors found that forest fires create positive feedbacks in future fire susceptibility, fuel loading, and fire intensity.
Journal ArticleDOI
Positive feedbacks in the fire dynamic of closed canopy tropical forests
Mark A. Cochrane,Ane Alencar,Mark Schulze,Carlos Souza,Daniel C. Nepstad,Paul Lefebvre,Eric A. Davidson +6 more
TL;DR: The forest fire dynamics in two regions of the eastern Amazon were studied and found that forest fires create positive feedbacks in future fire susceptibility, fuel loading, and fire intensity.
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