Amazon dams and waterways: Brazil’s Tapajós Basin plans

Fearnside, Philip M.

doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0642-z

Cited by 102 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(19 reference statements)

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“…They represent the influence of places and cities outside the Amazon in the deforestation patterns, linking the results to the current teleconnections understanding of land use changes (Cardille & Bennett 2010;Seto et al 2012). These results indicate the importance of developing and exploring the impacts of new connectivity measures in future research, especially considering the importance of the huge multimodal transport network projects underway in the region to decrease the soybean export costs (Fearnside, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

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Land use change emission scenarios: anticipating a forest transition process in the Brazilian Amazon

Aguiar

Vieira

Assis

et al. 2016

Global Change Biology

146

153

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Following an intense occupation process that was initiated in the 1960s, deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon have decreased significantly since 2004, stabilizing around 6000 km(2) yr(-1) in the last 5 years. A convergence of conditions contributed to this, including the creation of protected areas, the use of effective monitoring systems, and credit restriction mechanisms. Nevertheless, other threats remain, including the rapidly expanding global markets for agricultural commodities, large-scale transportation and energy infrastructure projects, and weak institutions. We propose three updated qualitative and quantitative land-use scenarios for the Brazilian Amazon, including a normative 'Sustainability' scenario in which we envision major socio-economic, institutional, and environmental achievements in the region. We developed an innovative spatially explicit modelling approach capable of representing alternative pathways of the clear-cut deforestation, secondary vegetation dynamics, and the old-growth forest degradation. We use the computational models to estimate net deforestation-driven carbon emissions for the different scenarios. The region would become a sink of carbon after 2020 in a scenario of residual deforestation (~1000 km(2) yr(-1)) and a change in the current dynamics of the secondary vegetation - in a forest transition scenario. However, our results also show that the continuation of the current situation of relatively low deforestation rates and short life cycle of the secondary vegetation would maintain the region as a source of CO2 - even if a large portion of the deforested area is covered by secondary vegetation. In relation to the old-growth forest degradation process, we estimated average gross emission corresponding to 47% of the clear-cut deforestation from 2007 to 2013 (using the DEGRAD system data), although the aggregate effects of the postdisturbance regeneration can partially offset these emissions. Both processes (secondary vegetation and forest degradation) need to be better understood as they potentially will play a decisive role in the future regional carbon balance.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

“…). These results indicate the importance of developing and exploring the impacts of new connectivity measures in future research, especially considering the importance of the huge multimodal transport network projects underway in the region to decrease the soybean export costs (Fearnside, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Land use change emission scenarios: anticipating a forest transition process in the Brazilian Amazon

Aguiar

Vieira

Assis

et al. 2016

Global Change Biology

146

153

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…By 2014 these laws had already been used eight times in the case of Belo Monte and 12 times in the case of the Tapajós River dams (Palmquist, ). Very few people in Brazil even know of the existence of security suspensions, thereby diminishing any impetus to change these laws (Fearnside, ).…”

Section: Forces Impeding Sustainable Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges for sustainable development in Brazilian Amazonia

Fearnside

2018

Sustainable Development

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Most economic initiatives and infrastructure projects in Brazilian Amazonia have social benefits that are small and ephemeral, while their socioenvironmental impacts are severe. More sustainable forms of development are inhibited by barriers such as a decision-making system with heavy influence (including corruption) from actors with interests in nonsustainable activities. These interests have driven a recent surge of legislative threats to environmental licensing. Better alternatives exist for many destructive forms of "development" projects. Examples include transport using rivers (rather than building highways) and electricity generation from Brazil's vast solar and wind resources (rather than hydroelectric dams). Traditional rural populations could receive support from programs that tap the value of the Amazon forest's environmental services, but institutional mechanisms are in their infancy, among challenges that include differing political interests of countries providing environmental services and those that might pay for them, lack of data and a "theoretical battlefield" regarding accounting for benefits.

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“…The imminent construction of hydropower plants (Fearnside, 2015) will significantly affect the spatial dynamics of populations in this region, with the potential to cause varying impacts at different scales. The naturally rapid water flow of the rivers will be replaced by lentic systems (Nilsson & Berggren, 2000), breaking the rivers' longitudinal and transversal functionality (Vannote et al, 1980;Junk et al, 1989) and affecting several organisms that have ecophysiological constraints.…”

Section: The Potential Impacts Of Planned Large Damsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The combined influence of riverine barriers and flooding gradients on biogeographical patterns for amphibians and squamates in south‐eastern Amazonia

Moraes

Pavan²,

Barros

et al. 2016

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim Our aim was to investigate how the distance to water (flooding gradients) and riverine barriers (Tapajós and Jamanxim rivers) influence the distributional patterns of amphibian and squamate assemblages in the middle Tapajós River region, south‐eastern Amazonia. We also considered the planned hydroelectric dams on both rivers in reviewing the possible impacts of these factors on the amphibian and squamate assemblages. Location Middle Tapajós River system, south‐eastern Amazonia. Methods We conducted diurnal and nocturnal surveys combining pitfall traps and active searches along both banks of the Tapajós and Jamanxim rivers. We identified specimens using an integrative morphological, acoustic, ecological and molecular approach and evaluated the influence of riverine barriers and distance to water using uni‐ and multivariate ordinations, regressions and ANOVA. Results We found changes in species composition for both groups along the flooding gradient and differential riverine barrier effects. The rivers restricted the distribution of 33% of the amphibian species and 8% of the squamates. For amphibians, the main distributional barrier was the Tapajós River, while for squamates both rivers were of similar importance. The assemblages most affected by riverine barriers were non‐riparian amphibians and squamates, as well as riparian amphibians associated with small streams. The functional groups most affected were small, diurnal terrestrial amphibians and small–medium, diurnal partly tree‐dwelling squamates. Main conclusions The Tapajós River is a distributional boundary for lineages centred in western and eastern Amazonia. The fact that many taxa occur on both banks suggests that the Tapajós is a recent or semi‐permeable barrier, while the Jamanxim is an even more recent or weaker barrier. Anthropogenic activities that affect water level, flooding cycles and river flow may influence these natural patterns and cause changes to the equilibrium of the riverine barrier effect. Studies seeking to identify these influences should focus on the most affected functional groups.

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Amazon dams and waterways: Brazil’s Tapajós Basin plans

Abstract: Brazil plans to build 43

Cited by 102 publications

References 22 publications

Land use change emission scenarios: anticipating a forest transition process in the Brazilian Amazon

Land use change emission scenarios: anticipating a forest transition process in the Brazilian Amazon

Challenges for sustainable development in Brazilian Amazonia

The combined influence of riverine barriers and flooding gradients on biogeographical patterns for amphibians and squamates in south‐eastern Amazonia

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