Monitoring land use changes around the indigenous lands of the Xingu basin in Mato Grosso, Brazil

International audienceIndigenous lands represent an efficient way to protect indigenous communities and environment in Brazil. However, these lands are also highly affected y the land use changes occuring in its surroundings. We quantified the land use changes in the Xingu basin based on MODIS EVI data between 2000 and 2006. We estimated the deforested area inside and outside the indigenous lands, the crop expansion and intensification around the protected areas. Our results indicate that, even if indigenous lands are efficient to limit deforestation (97.5% of deforestation is outside the indigenous lands), crop expansion and intensification (double crop systems) are increasing rapidly, what may imply pollution of headwaters of the Xingu river which crosses the protected area

Seeing the forest for the streams: A multiscale study of land-use change and stream ecosystems in the Amazon's agricultural frontier

Global demand for agricultural products is an increasingly important driver of deforestation in the Amazon Basin. This dissertation examines the consequences of agricultural expansion for stream ecosystems in the southern Amazon's agricultural frontier. At regional scales, the removal of watershed forest cover is known to change the energy balance and influence hydro-climatic cycling by altering stream flow, regional rainfall patterns, and land surface temperatures. At the landscape scale, these physical changes may be further exacerbated by land management practices that lead to the degradation of riparian forest buffers; decreases in connectivity; changes in the amount of light, nutrient, and sediment inputs; and decreases in water quality. Together, land use and management influence the quality and distribution of aquatic habitats within stream networks, potentially decreasing stream biotic integrity and resilience to further disturbances. Brazil's Mato Grosso state is one of the most actively expanding agricultural frontiers in the world and represents an ideal case study for examining the linkages among tropical deforestation, agricultural expansion, and the conservation of freshwater ecosystems. Mato Grosso accounted for 40% of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon during the early 2000s - primarily due to the expansion of soybeans and cattle ranching. Deforestation rates have since dropped throughout the Amazon, but there is a lack of spatially explicit information about the land use transitions accompanying this decline. To address this gap, I combined government data on deforestation and production with the MODIS satellite time series to quantify the spatial-temporal dynamics of land use change in the region. Although agricultural expansion during this period slowed with declining commodity prices, the decline in deforestation is partly explained by a shift from soybean expansion into forests (26% of expansion from 2001-2005) to expansion into already cleared pasture lands (9% of expansion form 2006-2010). Beyond documenting these trends, the resulting dataset is a critical first step in evaluating the influence of land use and land use history on freshwater ecosystems at multiple scales. In the headwaters region of the Xingu River Basin, the proportion of small watersheds (microbasins) dominated by agriculture (>60% of area) increased from 20 to 40% from 2001 to 2010. At the same time, the stream network became increasingly fragmented by the removal of riparian forest buffers and installation of farm impoundments. I used high resolution satellite data (ASTER) to produce the first landscape-level documentation of farm impoundments in the region, mapping approximately 10,000 impoundments (one per 7.6 km of stream length) in 2007. At the catchment scale, I collected field data in 12 headwater streams to examine the effect of land management on instream water quality. Watershed forest cover (from MODIS), the density of impoundments (from ASTER), and the percent forest in upstream riparian buffers (from Landsat) were all associated with substantial increases in stream temperature. These increases in fragmentation and water temperature may have large cumulative effects on the stream network and reduce the ability of downstream protected areas to conserve freshwater resources. At the scale of the Amazon Basin, my analysis indicates that 30% of indigenous lands and protected areas are highly vulnerable to future reductions in hydrologic connectivity, simply because of their location within their watersheds. These impacts could be substantially mitigated through enforcement of existing legislation to protect riparian buffers and new regulations to limit the number of impoundments in emerging agricultural landscapes

Is Brazil now in control of deforestation in the Amazon?

International audienceIn the past 10 years, deforestation in the Amazon has been annually decreasing, the figures in 2014 representing less than 20 % of what they were in 2004. Does this mean Brazil now controls the phenomenon? Answering this question is a complex task because deforestation unfolds through several dimensions: economic (what are the rationales behind deforestation), social (access to land, land conflicts), environmental (impacts on climate, local or global effects, biodiversity) and geopolitical (the role of Brazil in international negotiations on climate and GES emissions). The enormous size of the Amazon rainforest adds to this complexity, as the issues at stake are not necessarily the same throughout the region. Despite this complexity, we will provide a synthesis of the principal issues underlying deforestation. We will first recall how, when and where this phenomenon appeared and expanded in the Brazilian Amazon, and what the consequences are on multiple scales. We will then analyse the causes and the social stakeholders involved. Lastly, we will present the actions led by the Brazilian Federal government since 2004 to curb the phenomenon. The conclusion will lead us to think about the limits of current policies and the challenges which remain to be addressed.Depuis une dizaine d'années, les surfaces déforestées en Amazonie diminuent chaque année et le déboisement en 2014 a représenté moins de 20 % de celui de 2004. Doit-on en déduire que le Brésil maîtrise désormais le phénomène de déforestation ? Répondre à cette question implique d'exposer la complexité du phénomène de déforestation. Celui-ci possède en effet de nombreuses dimensions : économique (qui défriche, pour gagner quoi ?), sociale (question de l'accès à la terre, conflits fonciers), environnementale (impacts sur le climat, effets locaux, biodiversité) et même géopolitique (rôle du Brésil sur la scène mondiale, négociations sur les émissions…). La taille de la région considérée est un autre élément de complexité car les facteurs en jeu ne sont pas uniformes. Malgré ces difficultés, nous proposons ici une synthèse des principales questions liées à la question du déboisement. Nous abordons dans un premier temps l'historique du phénomène, sa répartition géographique et ses conséquences. Nous nous intéressons ensuite aux causes et aux acteurs du phénomène. Enfin, nous présenterons les actions menées depuis dix ans par le gouvernement fédéral brésilien pour le maîtriser. La conclusion sera l'occasion de réfléchir sur les limites des politiques actuelles et sur les défis qui restent à relever

Climate Mitigation, Deforestation and Human Development in Brazil

human development, climate change

Impacts of Agricultural Expansion on Surface Runoff: A Case Study of a River Basin in the Brazilian Legal Amazon

This work presents an analysis of the Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes of a region in the Brazilian Legal Amazon, and an evaluation of their impacts on the surface runoff regime. This case study took place at the Suiá-Miçu River basin, located in the northeast region of Mato Grosso State. LULC maps were produced for the years 1973, 1984 and 2005 using remote sensing data. After analyzing the agricultural expansion in the study area, the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool (AGWA) was applied in performing the surface runoff modeling for each of the analyzed years using the SCS curve number method. The results showed that by 1984, 13% of the natural vegetation had been replaced by pasture in this drainage basin. These changes were responsible for a 5.7% increase in the annual average surface runoff volume when compared with the baseline values of 1973. In 2005, the agricultural areas increased to around 40% of the drainage basin, being 28% occupied by pasture and 12% by crop fields. In this last scenario, the annual average surface runoff was 37% higher than in 1973

Connections among Land Use, Water Quality, Biodiversity of Aquatic Invertebrates, and Fish Behavior in Amazon Rivers

Rivers in the Amazon have among the greatest biodiversity in the world. The Xingu River, one of the tributaries of the Amazon River, has a length of 1640 km, draining 510,000 km2 in one of the most protected regions on the planet. The Middle Xingu region in Brazil has been highly impacted by mining and livestock farming, leading to habitat fragmentation due to altered water quality. Therefore, comparing two rivers (the preserved Xingu River and the impacted Fresco River) and their confluence, the aims of the present study were to (1) assess the land uses in the hydrographic basin; (2) determine the water quality by measurements of turbidity, total solids, and metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Zn, and Hg); (3) compare the zooplankton biodiversity; and (4) to evaluate the avoidance behavior of fish (Astyanax bimaculatus) when exposed to waters from the Xingu and Fresco Rivers. Zooplankton were grouped and counted down to the family level. For the analysis of fish avoidance, a multi-compartment system was used. The forest class predominated at the study locations, accounting for 57.6%, 60.8%, and 63.9% of the total area at P1XR, P2FR, and P3XFR, respectively, although since 1985, at the same points, the forest had been reduced by 31.3%, 25.7%, and 27.9%. The Xingu River presented almost 300% more invertebrate families than the Fresco River, and the fish population preferred its waters (>50%). The inputs from the Fresco River impacted the water quality of the Xingu River, leading to reductions in local invertebrate biodiversity and potential habitats for fish in a typical case of habitat fragmentation due to anthropic factors.Fil: Silva de Sousa, Rodrigo. Federal University of Southern and Southeastern Pará; BrasilFil: Silva, Gilmar Clemente. Universidade Federal Fluminense; BrasilFil: Bazzan, Thiago. Earth Observation And Geoinformatics Division, National; BrasilFil: de la Torre, Fernando Roman. Universidad Nacional de Luján. Instituto de Ecología y Desarrollo Sustentable. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Ecología y Desarrollo Sustentable; ArgentinaFil: Nebo, Caroline. Federal University of Southern and Southeastern Pará; BrasilFil: Siqueira Silva, Diógenes Henrique. Federal University of Southern and Southeastern Pará; BrasilFil: Cardoso Silva, Sheila. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Martins Pompêo, Marcelo Luiz. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Brazil de Paiva, Teresa Cristina. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Teixeira da Silva, Flávio. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Vieira Rêgo da Silva, Daniel Clemente. Federal University of Southern and Southeastern Pará; Brasi

Forest-making in agrarian frontiers:Place-based transformative pathways toward sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon

The Brazilian Amazon’s arc of deforestation is an agrarian frontier dominated by large-scale commodity production. Deforestation patterns are supported by lock-in mechanisms of various forms: politico-institutional (e.g., party politics, public policies), techno-economic (e.g., technical knowledge, financial incentives), and socio-cognitive (e.g., narratives, values, perceptions). Within this context, many place-based forest restoration initiatives have existed and resisted for decades, although often underacknowledged and invisibilized. In this thesis, I ask how such place-based forest restoration initiatives carve transformative pathways toward sustainability in agrarian frontiers of the Brazilian Amazon. To answer this question, I propose a place-based approach to transformative pathways, highlighting three main aspects. First, the protagonism of local communities in transforming the landscape based on territorial attachment, human-nature connectedness and relational values to forests. Second, their local agency continuously exercised through a silent praxis of resistance in everyday life. Third, the cross-scale nature of such pathways, embedded in political contexts that can nudge transformations in (un)sustainable directions. State-level politics play a key mediating role in this process, buffering or reinforcing lock-in mechanisms through a narrative-policy nexus. Therefore, this thesis analyzes two contrasting states in the arc of deforestation: Acre, a new frontier state, renowned for its history of forest protection and socioenvironmental mobilizations; and Mato Grosso, Brazil’s largest soy producer and exporter and a consolidated frontier of commodity expansion. Within each state, I look into a relevant place-based forest restoration initiative: the RECA Agroforestry Project in the border of Rondônia and Acre, and the Xingu Seed Network in Mato Grosso. I analyze what I label as the triggering, nurturing and resilience phases of their transformative pathways and how they play out in such different contexts. The analysis is based on three rounds of semi-structured interviews, two rounds of field visits, an online survey, as well as document analysis of public policies and institutional materials from the case studies, all conducted between 2019 and 2022. The results show that, even in face of high deforestation pressures, these initiatives challenge the dominant commodity system by actively making forests in agrarian frontiers through multidimensional transformations in values, practices and politics. Recognizing these initiatives as crucial agents of change toward sustainable futures is a key step in counteracting the enduring patterns of deforestation in the tropics

Socio-Ecological Implications of Soy in the Brazilian Cerrado

This paper summarizes the critical importance of the Cerrado savannah biome in Brazil and examines key ways in which large-scale agriculture, in particular large-scale soy farming, threatens water security and increases socio-ecological stress. It connects agribusiness expansion to the globalized meat industry by defining how complex economic relationships result in deforestation on a massive scale. It describes how this radical change in land cover has led to changes in rainfall patterns that are associated with extended drought periods and analyzes how these critical water shortages jeopardize socio-economic health beyond the immediate region. Further, it explicates how intensified transgenic soy farming and other pesticide-heavy crop production contributes to rising public health crises associated with carcinogen-contaminated water and food sources. Lastly, it identifies emerging trends that suggest how agribusiness corporations and governments may be legally ascribed moral responsibilities for maintaining socio-ecological health of the biome. The paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the human dimensions of environmental issues and their impacts and reframe conservation social science discourse in regard to protection of land and water resources in the region

Signs of Water

Water is more important than ever before. It is increasingly controversial in direct proportion to its scarcity, demand, neglect, and commodification. There is no place on the planet where water is not, or will not be, of critical concern. Signs of Water brings together scholars and experts from five continents in an interdisciplinary exploration of the theoretical approaches, social and political issues, and anthropogenic hazards surrounding water in the twenty-first century. From the kitchen taps of Detroit, Michigan to the water-harvesting infrastructure of Tokyo, from the Upper Xingu Basin of Brazil to the Sunda Deep of the Java Trench, these essays flow through time and place to uncover the many issues surrounding water today. Asking key theoretical questions, exposing threats to vital water systems, and proposing paths forward, Signs of Water brims with histories, ontologies, and political struggles. Bringing together local experiences to tell a global story, it centers water as history, as politics, and as a human right