Assessing Land Use and Land Cover Changes in the Direct Influence Zone of the Braço Norte Hydropower Complex, Brazilian Amazonia

Abstract

Over the decades, hydropower complexes have been built in several hydrographic basins of Brazil including the Amazon region. Therefore, it is important to understand the effects of these constructions on the environment and local communities. This work presents a land use and land cover change temporal analysis considering a 33-year period (1985–2018) in the direct influence zone of the Braço Norte Hydropower Complex, Brazilian Amazonia, using the Collection 4.1 level 3 of the freely available MapBiomas dataset. Additionally, we have assessed the Brazilian Amazon large-scale deforestation process acting as a land use and land cover change driver in the study area. Our findings show that the most impacted land cover was forest formation (from 414 km2 to 287 km2, a reduction of 69%), which primarily shifted into pasturelands (increase of 664%, from 40 km2 to 299 km2). The construction of the hydropower complex also triggered indirect impacts such as the presence of urban areas in 2018 and the consequent increased local demand for crops. Together with the ongoing large-scale Amazonian deforestation process, the construction of the complex has intensified changes in the study area as 56.42% of the pixels were changed between 1985 and 2018. This indicates the importance of accurate economic and environmental impact studies for assessing social and environmental consequences of future construction in this unique region. Our results reveal the need for adopting special policies to minimize the impact of these constructions, for example, the creation of Protected Areas and the definition of locally-adjusted parameters for the ecological-economic zoning considering environmental and social circumstances derived from the local actors that depend on the natural environment to subsist such as indigenous peoples, riverine population, and artisanal fishermen.

Three Decades after: Landscape Dynamics in Different Colonisation Models Implemented in the Brazilian Legal Amazon

“…The negative impacts were those that arose through the deforestation of native vegetation with human interference in the successional process [49,50]. This impact was verified between the forest -> deforestation -> pasture -> bare soil -> agriculture transition, and between the SSI -> bare soil or SSI -> agriculture class.…”

Protecting Amazonia Should Focus on Protecting Indigenous, Traditional Peoples and Their Territories

“…They presented a temporal analysis of LULC change over a 33-year period (1985-2018) within the influence zone of the Braço Norte Hydropower Complex, Brazilian Amazon, using the Collection 4.1 level 3 LULC maps of the freely available MapBiomas dataset. Their findings showed that the most impacted LULC during this period was forest formation (from 414 km 2 to 287 km 2 , a reduction of In Guerrero et al [11], the authors pointed to another important factor related to the devastation of pristine, protected areas. They presented a temporal analysis of LULC change over a 33-year period (1985-2018) within the influence zone of the Braço Norte Hydropower Complex, Brazilian Amazon, using the Collection 4.1 level 3 LULC maps of the freely available MapBiomas dataset.…”

“…Future work must link climate and other non-deforestation drivers to further elucidate the factors contributing to dangerous pollution emissions from biomass burning in Amazonia. In Guerrero et al [11], the authors pointed to another important factor related to the devastation of pristine, protected areas. They presented a temporal analysis of LULC change over a 33-year period (1985-2018) within the influence zone of the Braço Norte Hydropower Complex, Brazilian Amazon, using the Collection 4.1 level 3 LULC maps of the freely available MapBiomas dataset.…”

Capítulo 20: Impulsores e impactos de los cambios en los ecosistemas acuáticos

“…These drivers have synergistic interactions among themselves and, when acting together, can amplify each other's impacts (Costa et al 2011;Anderson et al 2018;Athayde et al 2019;Castello and Macedo 2016;Silva et al 2019). The construction of dams, for example, inevitably results in the construction of roads, which in turn may increase deforestation for pasture and commodity crops such as soy (Fearnside 1989;Guerrero et al 2020). These land-use changes ultimately result in the pollution of rivers and streams, be it from the large-scale use of fertilizers and agricultural chemicals, the formation of toxic methylmercury in reservoirs, or rapid population growth from migration spurred by dam construction.…”