Dynamics of land use in a rural settlement in the Brazilian Legal Amazon

Deforestation in the Amazon has reached alarming numbers in recent decades. The main factors causing this issue are not only large and medium-sized farmers, land grabbing, and illegal mining but also agrarian reform settlements, which may be contributing to the increase in deforestation rates. In this context, this study aims to evaluate the dynamics of land use in the rural settlement Santo Antônio do Matupi, located in the south of the State of Amazonas. This time-series study analyzed changes in land use and land cover from 1992 to 2018 using supervised classification techniques. In this scenario, simulations were carried out of the dynamics of land use for the period between 2028 and 2038 using the cellular automaton method of Markov (CAMARKOV). The results show that, in the studied period, the greatest losses were in primary forests and that the most critical period of deforestation rates recorded was from 2004 to 2018 when 63.28% of the area was converted into pastures. Future scenarios based on the period studied indicate losses of up to 5.26% of areas occupied by forests by 2028, and a further 5.60% by 2038, exceeding 80% of the total area deforested in the settlement. This study demonstrates that the current model of land use and occupation practiced in the settlement is unsustainable and that future scenarios are worrying. This situation highlights a need to effectively implement programs that aim a sustainable rural development in the settlement, in addition to monitoring and controlling deforestation, designed for current managers and other sectors of the society concerned with the conservation and preservation of forests.O desmatamento na Amazônia vem alcançando números alarmantes nas últimas décadas, sendo os principais responsáveis por essas ações não apenas os grandes e médios fazendeiros, a grilagem de terra e o garimpo ilegal, como também os assentamentos de reforma agrária podem estar contribuindo com o aumento nas taxas de desmatamento. Diante desse contexto, este trabalho visa avaliar a dinâmica do uso da terra no assentamento rural Santo Antônio do Matupi, localizado no sul do estado do Amazonas. Foi realizado um estudo temporal sobre a mudança no uso e cobertura da terra de 1992 a 2018, com uso de técnica de classificação supervisionada e, a partir desse cenário, foram realizadas simulações na dinâmica do uso da terra para o período de 2028 a 2038 utilizando o método autômatos celulares de Markov (CA-MARKOV). Os resultados mostraram que no período estudado as maiores perdas foram nas florestas primárias, sendo o período mais crítico nas taxas de desmatamento registrado de 2004 a 2018, quando 63,28% da área foi convertida para a implementação de pastagens. Os cenários futuros, com base no período estudado, indicam perda de até 5,26% de áreas ocupadas por florestas até 2028, e mais 5,60% até 2038, superando 80% de área total desmatada no assentamento. O estudo demonstra que o atual modelo de uso e ocupação da terra praticado no assentamento é insustentável, e que os cenários futuros se mostram bastante preocupantes, o que evidencia a necessidade de implementação efetiva de programas voltados ao desenvolvimento rural sustentável no assentamento, além do monitoramento e controle do desmatamento voltado aos atuais gestores e demais setores da sociedade preocupados com a conservação e preservação das florestas

Dinâmica de incêndios florestais e alterações biofísicas na Amazônia e Cerrado brasileiros a partir de séries temporais de sensoriamento remoto

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Humanas, Departamento de Geografia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia, 2019.Os biomas brasileiros se adaptaram a diferentes padrões de presença ou ausência do fogo. Dados derivados de sensoriamento remoto têm sido uma das principais bases para a detecção de incêndios florestais e os danos na estrutura da vegetação, especialmente com o desenvolvimento de sensores com alta resolução temporal e espectral, e o estabelecimento de longas séries contínuas. Nesse sentido, esta tese buscou aprofundamento em três pontos: (1) Qual a potencialidade de produtos de sensoriamento remoto para a descrição da dinâmica do fogo no Brasil? (2) Como detectar cicatrizes de queimadas a partir de séries temporais em ambientes amazônicos?; e por fim (3) Quais os danos na vegetação resultantes da alteração do regime histórico do fogo e como podem ser quantificados por sensoriamento remoto? Para ampliar o conhecimento sobre essas questões foram utilizados diversos produtos derivados dos sensores Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Thematic Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) e Operational Land Imager (OLI), além de diversos dados espaciais, em três escalas: uma para todo o território nacional, uma área específica do Cerrado e duas áreas específicas da Amazônia. A metodologia básica consistiu na análise de séries temporais MODIS para detecção e quantificação dos efeitos do fogo. Os resultados permitiram concluir que: (1) Os produtos globais MODIS de detecção de cicatrizes de queimadas apresentaram altas taxas de erros de omissão no Brasil, superiores a 78% em média no território nacional, sendo seu uso recomendado apenas para análises regionais ou globais. Os produtos de queimadas apresentaram as menores acurácias nos biomas dos Pampas, Amazônia e Mata Atlântica e as maiores acurácias nos biomas do Cerrado e da Caatinga. Apesar desta limitação, o produto MCD64 permitiu descrever o regime do fogo no país, as principais regiões de ocorrência e a influência da umidade e classe de vegetação neste padrão. Foram estabelecidas como limite para a ação do fogo, as zonas sem estiagem, como o Oeste da Amazônia e litoral leste do Brasil, assim como as áreas do semiárido nordestino. (2) Dentre os métodos analisados de diferença sazonal e normalização temporal, a normalização pela média da banda espectral do Infravermelho Próximo foi responsável pela maior acurácia na detecção de cicatrizes de queimadas na Amazônia, retificando a utilização de alguns índices especializados originalmente para vegetações temperadas, como o Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR). Outros métodos analisados, como a diferença sazonal e normalização por z-score, apresentaram melhor acurácia que imagens originais, mas inferior em comparação com a normalização pela média. (3) A alteração da recorrência do fogo teve influência direta no padrão biofísico e fenológico da vegetação nas áreas de estudo na Amazônia e no Cerrado. As variáveis de produtividade primária bruta e albedo apresentaram baixa representatividade espacial. As mudanças com maior inclinação da tendência, do Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) e temperatura superficial, foram tanto relacionadas com a recorrência do fogo, quanto com a classe de uso da vegetação, como nas terras indígenas. A inclinação da tendência, no EVI e temperatura superficial, foi maior na área do Cerrado, reforçando a necessidade urgente de conservação deste bioma. A pesquisa atestou a importância de dados de sensoriamento remoto para avaliação da dinâmica do fogo e dos seus efeitos na vegetação. A utilização de séries temporais do sensor MODIS permitiu tanto identificar as áreas queimadas com maior acurácia que outros produtos disponíveis, quanto quantificar as fragilidades da vegetação relacionadas ao padrão de fogo atual.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).Brazilian biomes have adapted to different patterns of presence or absence of fire. Data derived from remote sensing have been one of the main techniques for the detection of forest fires and damage to vegetation structure, especially with the development of high temporal and spectral resolution sensors and the establishment of long continuous series. Thus, we intend to focus on three points in this thesis: (1) What is the potential of remote sensing products for the description of fire dynamics in Brazil? (2) How to detect burn scars from remote sensing time series in Amazonian environments? And finally (3) What damages in the vegetation resulting from the alteration of the historical fire regime and how can they be quantified by remote sensing? In order to increase the knowledge about these issues, several products derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Thematic Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensors were used, in addition to diverse spatial data, in three scales: one for the whole national territory, one specific area of the Cerrado and two specific areas of the Amazon. The basic methodology consisted of the analysis of MODIS time series for the detection and quantification of fire effects. The results allowed to conclude that: (1) MODIS global burned area products presented high omission errors rates in Brazil, higher than 78% on average in the national territory, and their use is recommended only for regional or global analyzes. The burned area products showed the lowest value in the biomes of the Pampas, Amazon Forest and Atlantic Forest, and the highest values in the biomes of the Cerrado and Caatinga. In spite of this limitation, the product MCD64 allowed to describe the fire regime in the country, the main regions of occurrence and the influence of moisture and vegetation class in this pattern. Were established as a limit for the action of the fire the areas without drought, such as the Western Amazon and the east coast of Brazil, as well as areas with low availability of rainfall and fuel, such as the semi-arid in the Northeast. (2) Among the analyzed methods of seasonal difference and temporal normalization, the normalization of the Near Infrared spectral band by the zero-mean, was responsible for the greater accuracy in the detection of burn scars in the Amazon region, rectifying the use of some indices originally specialized for temperate vegetation, such as the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR). Other methods analyzed, such as the seasonal difference and z-score normalization, showed better accuracy than original images, but lower than normalization by the zero-mean. (3) The alteration of fire recurrence had a direct influence on the biophysical and phenological pattern of vegetation the study areas of Amazon and Cerrado. The variables of gross primary productivity and albedo showed low spatial representativeness. The changes with higher trend slope, of Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and surface temperature, were related both to fire recurrence and to the vegetation use class, as in indigenous lands. The slope of the trend in EVI and surface temperature was higher in the Cerrado area, reinforcing the urgent need for conservation of this biome. The research attested the importance of remote sensing data for the evaluation of fire dynamics and its effects on vegetation. The use of MODIS time series allowed both identifying the burned areas with greater accuracy than other available products, and quantifying the fragilities of the vegetation related to the current fire pattern

Disentangling the contribution of multiple land covers to fire-mediated carbon emissions in Amazonia during the 2010 drought

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.In less than 15 years, the Amazon region experienced three major droughts. Links between droughts and fires have been demonstrated for the 1997/1998, 2005, and 2010 droughts. In 2010, emissions of 510 ± 120 Tg C were associated to fire alone in Amazonia. Existing approaches have, however, not yet disentangled the proportional contribution of multiple land cover sources to this total. We develop a novel integration of multisensor and multitemporal satellite-derived data on land cover, active fires, and burned area and an empirical model of fire-induced biomass loss to quantify the extent of burned areas and resulting biomass loss for multiple land covers in Mato Grosso (MT) state, southern Amazonia - the 2010 drought most impacted region. We show that 10.77% (96,855 km2) of MT burned. We estimated a gross carbon emission of 56.21 ± 22.5 Tg C from direct combustion of biomass, with an additional 29.4 ± 10 Tg C committed to be emitted in the following years due to dead wood decay. It is estimated that old-growth forest fires in the whole Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) have contributed to 14.81 Tg of C (11.75 Tg C to 17.87 Tg C) emissions to the atmosphere during the 2010 fire season, with an affected area of 27,555 km2. Total C loss from the 2010 fires in MT state and old-growth forest fires in the BLA represent, respectively, 77% (47% to 107%) and 86% (68.2% to 103%) of Brazil's National Plan on Climate Change annual target for Amazonia C emission reductions from deforestation.This work was supported by UK NERC Amazonica grant NE/F005482/1, Brazil MCTI-PCI (302541/ 2014-4), CNPq grants 458022/2013-6 and 400640/2012-0, and NASA-IDS grant NNX14AD31G

Trajetorias: a dataset of environmental, epidemiological, and economic indicators for the Brazilian Amazon

The Trajetorias dataset is a harmonized set of environmental, epidemiological, and poverty indicators for all municipalities of the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA). This dataset is the result of a scientific synthesis research initiative conducted by scientists from several natural and social sciences fields, consolidating multidisciplinary indicators into a coherent dataset for integrated and interdisciplinary studies of the Brazilian Amazon. The dataset allows the investigation of the association between the Amazonian agrarian systems and their impacts on environmental and epidemiological changes, furthermore enhancing the possibilities for understanding, in a more integrated and consistent way, the scenarios that affect the Amazonian biome and its inhabitants.This work was funded by the Brazilian Research Council (CNPQ MCTIC-SÍNTESE EM BIODIVERSIDADE E SERVIÇOS ECOSSISTÊMICOS-SINBIOSE, process 442357/2019-2). We are grateful to the Synthesis Center on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (SinBiose), funded by the Brazilian Research Council, for providing the opportunity for the development of this work. CC, AM, RML, and AD are also grateful to the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) for providing the intellectual environment that stimulated the conception of the present work, as part of the project Development, environmental degradation, and disease spread in the Brazilian Amazon led by Andres Baeza and Mercedes Pascual. We would like to extend a special thanks to Professor Francisco de Assis Costa, from the Pará Federal University (UFPA) for sharing his data on the technological trajectories in the municipalities of the Amazon biome and for his generous discussions and support. We also extend our special thanks to Alexandre Gontijo, Flavio Coelho and Marcelle Chagas, for fruitful discussions during the project.Peer Reviewed"Article signat per 15 autors/es: Ana C. Rorato, Ana Paula Dal’Asta, Raquel Martins Lana, Ricardo B. N. dos Santos, Maria Isabel S. Escada, Camila M. Vogt, Tatiana Campos Neves, Milton Barbosa, Cecilia S. Andreazzi, Izabel C. dos Reis, Danilo A. Fernandes, Mônica da Silva-Nunes, Anielli R. de Souza, Antonio M. V. Monteiro & Claudia T. Codeço "Postprint (published version

Historic emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in Mato Grosso, Brazil: 1) source data uncertainties

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Historic carbon emissions are an important foundation for proposed efforts to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation and enhance forest carbon stocks through conservation and sustainable forest management (REDD+). The level of uncertainty in historic carbon emissions estimates is also critical for REDD+, since high uncertainties could limit climate benefits from credited mitigation actions. Here, we analyzed source data uncertainties based on the range of available deforestation, forest degradation, and forest carbon stock estimates for the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso during 1990-2008.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Deforestation estimates showed good agreement for multi-year periods of increasing and decreasing deforestation during the study period. However, annual deforestation rates differed by > 20% in more than half of the years between 1997-2008, even for products based on similar input data. Tier 2 estimates of average forest carbon stocks varied between 99-192 Mg C ha^-1, with greatest differences in northwest Mato Grosso. Carbon stocks in deforested areas increased over the study period, yet this increasing trend in deforested biomass was smaller than the difference among carbon stock datasets for these areas.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Estimates of source data uncertainties are essential for REDD+. Patterns of spatial and temporal disagreement among available data products provide a roadmap for future efforts to reduce source data uncertainties for estimates of historic forest carbon emissions. Specifically, regions with large discrepancies in available estimates of both deforestation and forest carbon stocks are priority areas for evaluating and improving existing estimates. Full carbon accounting for REDD+ will also require filling data gaps, including forest degradation and secondary forest, with annual data on all forest transitions.</p

Global Forest Monitoring from Earth Observation

Covering recent developments in satellite observation data undertaken for monitoring forest areas from global to national levels, this book highlights operational tools and systems for monitoring forest ecosystems. It also tackles the technical issues surrounding the ability to produce accurate and consistent estimates of forest area changes, which are needed to report greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use changes. Written by leading global experts in the field, this book offers a launch point for future advances in satellite-based monitoring of global forest resources. It gives readers a deeper understanding of monitoring methods and shows how state-of-art technologies may soon provide key data for creating more balanced policies