Amazon: agricultural hub accounts for 76% of deforestation – 03/18/2024 – Environment

While the federal government is discussing the creation of an agricultural hub at the confluence between Amazonas, Acre and Rondônia —popularly known by the acronym Amacro—, deforestation in the region’s municipalities is advancing and already represents 76.5% of the total devastated area in the three states between 2018 and 2022. The conclusion is from a study published in the scientific journal Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation.

According to the research, since the communication of the intention to create a sustainable development zone (ZDS) in 2018, the region has been facing increased rates of deforestation, with land speculation, illegal logging and the conversion of forest into pastures and agricultural land.

Scientists used official data based on remote sensing to analyze an area of ​​around 454,000 square kilometers (km²), equivalent to little more than the territory of Sweden. It encompasses 32 municipalities on the border between the south of Amazonas, the east of Acre and the northwest of Rondônia and has been called “the new arc of deforestation”. In the region, which is home to around 1.7 million residents, the creation of ZDS Abunã-Madeira is planned, currently in the planning and articulation phase.

“When I was doing postdoctoral work at Inpe (National Institute for Space Research), I was analyzing the expansion of the agricultural frontier in the cerrado. However, it was possible to notice that there was a dynamic of advancement also in the Amazon, especially in that region. We then tried to understand the that was happening there and we arrived at this scenario of land speculation and intense pressure”, researcher Michel Eustáquio Dantas Chaves, first author of the article and professor at Unesp (Universidade Estadual Paulista), on the campus of Tupã (SP) tells Agência Fapesp. .

Chaves had led another study that showed the effectiveness of applying satellite images from the Sentinel-2 mission in analyzes focused on detecting the advance of the agricultural frontier, one of the factors behind abrupt changes in land use (read more here).

Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Legal Amazon have increased gradually in the last decade, surpassing the annual mark of 10 thousand km², reaching 13,038 km² in 2021, the highest rate since 2006, according to the Brazilian Amazon Forest Satellite Monitoring Project (Prodes) , from Inpe. The scenario changed only last year, when after four consecutive years of high rates, the deforested area stood at 9,001 km² between August 2022 and July 2023, a reduction of 22% compared to the previous period.

When analyzing land classes, the researchers showed that deforestation was more frequent and increasing on private lands, but it advanced in a worrying way on Conservation Units (UCs) between 2018 and 2022. In relation to public lands — which represent a large part of zoning area, including extractive reserves and Indigenous Lands (TIs)— there was also pressure and threat. In 2021, for example, 64% of deforestation occurred in these areas. There, there are 86 Conservation Units, 49 TIs and around 94 thousand km² of undesignated public forests.

For scientists, the lack of environmental impact studies and socio-environmental public policies to protect traditional communities is worrying, which casts doubt on the viability and sustainability of the project.

“We know the importance of creating a development zone, mainly so that residents outside large centers have access to working conditions and growth, being able to produce. But it is necessary to have governance, ensuring that production obeys the laws, generates income and becomes development for the region, not just exploration”, assesses researcher Marcos Adami, from the Earth Observation and Geoinformatics Division, at Inpe, and corresponding author of the article.

The study also included the participation of Ieda Sanches (Inpe), Katyanne Conceição (Secretariat of State for the Environment and Sustainability of Pará) and Guilherme Mataveli (Inpe/University of East Anglia) and received support from Fapesp through four projects ( 21/07382-2; 19/25701-8; 20/15230-5 and 23/03206-0).

Chaves recalls that the proposal to create the zone was “born” with a focus on soybean production, which is why it was called “Matopiba do Norte”, in reference to the agricultural frontier that covers Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia, where there is an increase in the opening of areas of native vegetation for conversion into pasture and grain planting.

On the website of the Amazon Development Superintendency (Sudam), the creation of ZDS Abunã-Madeira is described as a proposal that aims to promote socioeconomic development by “potentiating local bioeconomy vocations, agro-sustainable production circuits (fruit farming, fish farming, agribusiness) and multisectoral actions (infrastructure, logistics, tourism, training, research)”. He also says that it can serve as a pilot project for other regions of the Amazon.

When contacted, Sudam’s advisors — appointed by the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development to talk about the matter — did not respond to the Fapesp Agency’s contact details.

Historic

Despite the boom after 2018, deforestation has grown in the region since 2012, according to the research, coinciding with a period of economic crisis and weakening of environmental regulations in Brazil. Between 2012 and 2020, 5.2% of the Abunã-Madeira ZDS area underwent conversion to anthropogenic land uses, mainly from forest to pasture (78%).

In absolute terms, deforestation has increased across all land classes, but more intensely in UCs — especially since the ZDS project was announced. In rural settlements, the highest recorded rate (625.56 km², 2021) was above the average between 2012 and 2020 (341.20 km²).

The study used data from Prodes, considered the most accurate tool for estimating annual deforestation rates in the Amazon, with monitoring by clear cutting, and maintaining the methodology since 1988. They were combined with geographic information, from the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and of the Land Management System (Sigef).

For Felipe Gomes Petrone, master’s student in remote sensing at Inpe and co-author of the work, “just defining agrarian development zones without socio-environmental impact assessments and public policies can lead to more losses than advances for the agri-environmental sector”.

“The farmer needs to be a great ally in environmental protection, as productivity improves and advances with the conservation of various factors in nature, which provide rain, nutrient cycling, pollination and others. Disrupt climate regulation and the useful water cycle for agricultural production in relevant producing states can generate billion-dollar losses”, assesses Adami.

According to the group, the initiative must include diversified agricultural production and appropriate environmental safeguards, as well as strategies to enhance productive potential and standing forests.

The article “Amacro: the new Amazon deforestation hotspot and a potential setback for Brazilian agriculture” can be read here.