Impact of natural climate change and historical land use on landscape development in the Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Climate variations and historical land use had a major impact on landscape development in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica). In southeast Brazil, rainforest expanded under warm-humid climate conditions in the late Holocene, but have been dramatically reduced in historical times. Nevertheless, the numerous remaining forest fragments are of outstanding biological richness. In our research in the Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro we aim at the reconstruction of the late Quaternary landscape evolution and an assessment of human impact on landscapes and rainforests. In this context, special focus is given on (a) effects of climate variations on vegetation cover, soil development, and geomorphological processes, and (b) spatial and temporal land use and landscape degradation patterns. In this paper we present some new results of our interdisciplinary research in the Serra dos Órgãos mountain range, state of Rio de Janeiro

Priority areas for watershed service conservation in the Guapi-Macacu region of Rio de Janeiro, Atlantic Forest, Brazil.

Introduction: Land use intensification and urbanisation processes are degrading hydrological ecosystem services in the Guapi-Macacu watershed of Rio de Janeiro. A proposal to pay farmers to restore natural watershed services might be an alternative to securing the water supply in the long-term for the around 2.5 million urban water users in the study region. This study quantifies the costs of changing current land use patterns to enhance watershed services and compares these costs to the avoided costs associated with water treatment for public supply. Methods: We use farm-household data to estimate the opportunity costs of abandoning current land uses for the recovery of natural vegetation; a process that is very likely to improve water quality in terms of turbidity due to reduced inputs from erosion. Opportunity cost estimates are extrapolated to the watershed scale based on remote sensing land use classifications and vulnerability analysis to identify priority zones for watershed management interventions. To assess the potential demand for watershed services, we analyse water quality and treatment cost data from the main local water treatment plant. Results: Changing agricultural land uses for watershed services provision generally comes at high opportunity costs in our study area near to the metropolis of Rio de Janeiro. Alternative low cost watershed conservation options do exist in the livestock production sector. These options have the potential to directly reduce the amount of sediments and nutrients reaching the water bodies, and in turn decrease the costs of treatment needed for drinking water. Land cover changes at the scale needed to improve water quality will, nonetheless, likely exceed the cost of additional investments in water treatment. Conclusions: The state water utility company?s willingness to pay for watershed services alone will not be enough to induce provision of additional watershed services. We conclude that monetary incentives conditioned on specific adjustments to existing production systems could still have a complementary role to play in improving watershed services. However, we note that our willingness to pay analysis focusses on only one of the potentially wide range of ecosystem services provided by natural vegetation in the Guapi-Macacu watershed. Factoring these ecosystem services into the willingness to pay equation is likely to change our assessment in favour of additional conservation action, be it through PES or other policy instruments

Enhancing cost-effective watershed management in the brazilian Atlantic Forest by valuing forest ecosystem services linked to water quality in the Guapi-Macacu watershed.

The Guapi-Macacu watershed is located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, has a drainage area of about 1.640 km2, and drains into the Guanabara Bay northeast of the metropolitan area. The upper catchment in the Serra dos Órgãos mountain range is covered by dense old-growth forest of high biological diversity, while pastures and agricultural land dominate in the lower catchment. Apart from its outstanding biological value, the watershed provides crucial services including water supply to 2.5 million inhabitants in five municipalities. Nevertheless, forests and soils in the lower watershed are highly degraded due to the expansion of the agricultural frontier, overexploitation, and suburbanisation processes. Several pressures on this ecosystem persist. Therefore payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes are proposed by local initiatives and supported by international organizations as a suitable instrument to deal with the trade-offs between agricultural use and watershed services in a cost-effective manner. Studying the provision costs of and the demand for watershed services can support decision making process to evaluate the scope and economic feasibility of PES and alternative management options. Water resources in the watershed are of extreme importance for agriculture and also for industries, such as water bottle companies, breweries and the biggest Brazilian petrochemical complex, COMPERJ. Our study concentrates on calculating the opportunity costs related to the provision of watershed services under varying land use systems and evaluating the feasibility of PES related aspects, such as preserving or recovering forest areas and integrating good agricultural practices. Watershed services are valued in terms of controlling nutrients (Nitrogen and Phosphorus in surface water) and sediment loads (measured in terms of turbidity and total solids). Replacement and avoided cost methods are applied focusing on the local water treatment facility to estimate demand for service maintenance and improvement. To provide empirical evidence of the link between land use and water quality indicators, we rely on water quality modelling and monitoring specifically adapted to this area. Spatial conservation opportunity cost analysis is used to study the costs of watershed services maintenance and improvement and derive implication for cost-effective management on the basis of scenario analyses. The research activities take place within the framework of the multi-disciplinary German-Brazilian cooperation project DINARIO/MP2

Avaliação da viabilidade de implantação do mecanismo REDD+ no Município de Cachoeiras de Macacu, RJ.

O mecanismo de apoio aos projetos de Redução de Emissões por Desmatamento e Degradação Florestal e/ou conservação de carbono florestal e manejo sustentável de florestas (REDD+) é considerado promissor para contribuir para a redução das emissões de Gases de Efeito Estufa do setor de Uso da Terra, Mudança de Uso da Terra e Silvicultura e para o desenvolvimento rural sustentável. No Rio de Janeiro, o Município de Cachoeiras de Macacu está localizado dentro do altamente fragmentado Bioma Mata Atlântica. O objetivo geral desta pesquisa é determinar a viabilidade de iniciativas REDD para apoiar a gestão de florestas no Município de Cachoeiras de Macacu. A pesquisa é baseada em uma análise da governança ambiental nas escalas nacional, regional e local. Os elementos das estruturas de governança ambiental foram contrastados com os elementos do mecanismo REDD, como linha de base, escopo, instrumentos de financiamento e mecanismos de distribuição, a fim de identificar os pontos fortes, pontos fracos, oportunidades e ameaças para a incorporação do mecanismo na área de estudo. Este exercício analítico permitiu tirar conclusões sobre os principais desafios que a incorporação do mecanismo enfrenta na área de estudo. A forte estrutura de governança ambiental, a vocação ambiental do Município de Cachoeiras de Macacu, devido à grande parte da área do município ser ocupada por Unidades de Conservação e de 90% de sua área estar na bacia do Guapi/Macacu, utilizado para o abastecimento de água para mais de 2 milhões habitantes, abrem uma janela de oportunidade para o desenvolvimento de iniciativas de REDD. No entanto, o sistema de propriedade da terra hereditária, o crescimento industrial e urbano intenso, a falta de conhecimento de REDD pelas autoridades e inconsistências na lei representam alguns dos principais obstáculos para definir o escopo para a área de estudo.bitstream/item/149153/1/BPD-231-Mecanismo-REDD.pd

Trade-offs and synergies in agricultural landscapes: a study on soil-related ecosystem services in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest.

In recent years, numerous studies have addressed the theme of ecosystem services as a means of promoting the protection, sustainable use, and recovery of ecosystems. However, these studies mainly have not been fully evaluated the soil-related ecosystem services and the different land uses and land cover. Taking this as a background, our main goal is to evaluate the trade-offs and synergies in the provision of soil-related ecosystem services in a watershed located in the highlands of Rio de Janeiro state - Brazil. To do so, we evaluated soil properties as indicators. In addition, statistical methods were applied to analyze any significant differences between the variables for the different land use classes, and Spearman correlation matrix to evaluate the trade-offs and synergies. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was found between the different land uses for soil fertility parameters, bulk density, and organic matter; however, the trade-offs analysis demonstrated the impact of anthropogenic actions in ecosystem services provision. The methodology showed potential to be used in different studies that focus on ecosystem services evaluations