Help restore Brazil’s governance of globally important ecosystem services

Levis, Carolina; Flores, Bernardo M.; Mazzochini, Guilherme G.; Manhães, Adriana Pellegrini; Campos‐Silva, João Vitor; Amorim, Pablo Borges de; Peroni, Nivaldo; Hirota, Marina; Clement, Charles R.

doi:10.1038/s41559-019-1093-x

Cited by 61 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Despite the legacy effect of past deforestation, the feedback decreases in importance with reduced deforestation and ceases to affect the system when deforestation is halted altogether. Governance interventions, involving (inter)national political [59] and financial actors [60], as well as local populations, could realize this [61]. Special attention should be given to Amazonian regions where the forest contributes the most to dry-season rainfall recycling, such as the Brazilian states of Acre, Amapá and Pará, as well as parts of Peru and French Guiana ( figure 4).…”

Section: The Role Of Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Feedback between drought and deforestation in the Amazon

Staal

Flores

Aguiar

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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138

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Deforestation and drought are among the greatest environmental pressures on the Amazon rainforest, possibly destabilizing the forest-climate system. Deforestation in the Amazon reduces rainfall regionally, while this deforestation itself has been reported to be facilitated by droughts. Here we quantify the interactions between drought and deforestation spatially across the Amazon during the early 21st century. First, we relate observed fluctuations in deforestation rates to dry-season intensity; second, we determine the effect of conversion of forest to cropland on evapotranspiration; and third, we simulate the subsequent downwind reductions in rainfall due to decreased atmospheric water input. We find large variability in the response of deforestation to dry-season intensity, with a significant but small average increase in deforestation rates with a more intense dry season: with every mm of water deficit, deforestation tends to increase by 0.13% per year. Deforestation, in turn, has caused an estimated 4% of the recent observed drying, with the south-western part of the Amazon being most strongly affected. Combining both effects, we quantify a reinforcing drought-deforestation feedback that is currently small, but becomes gradually stronger with cumulative deforestation. Our results suggest that global climate change, not deforestation, is the main driver of recent drying in the Amazon. However, a feedback between drought and deforestation implies that increases in either of them will impede efforts to curb both.

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Section: The Role Of Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Feedback between drought and deforestation in the Amazon

Staal

Flores

Aguiar

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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138

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“…The recent autocratization and rise of populism in this region is concerning, potentially generating severe consequences for biodiversity conservation and the environment in general. 13,14 Exploring the availability of biodiversity data in the context of political regimes around the world, reveals several distinct and hitherto poorly documented patterns. For instance, the amount of available biodiversity data correlates with electoral democracy (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Impact of Political Regimes on Biodiversity

Zizka¹,

Rydén

Edler³

et al. 2020

SSRN Journal

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Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)is a new approach to conceptualization and measurement of democracy. The headquarters -the V-Dem Institute -is based at the University of Gothenburg with 19 staff. The project includes a worldwide team with six Principal Investigators, 14 Project Managers, 30 Regional Managers, 170 Country Coordinators, Research Assistants, and 3,000 Country Experts. The V-Dem project is one of the largest ever social science research-oriented data collection programs.Please address comments and/or queries for information to: V-Dem Institute AbstractNational governments are the main actors responsible for mapping and protecting their biodiversity, but countries differ in their capacity, willingness, and effectiveness to do so. We quantify the global biodiversity managed by different regime types and developed a tool to explore the links between level of democracy and other key socio-economic variables with the number of natural history specimens registered within country boundaries. Using this tool, distinct and previously unknown patterns emerge around the world, that urge for increased collaboration between the natural and social sciences to further explore these patterns and their underlying processes.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the impact of political regimes on biodiversity

Zizka

Rydén

Edler

et al. 2020

Preprint

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18National governments are the main actors responsible for mapping and protecting their 19 biodiversity, but countries differ in their capacity, willingness, and effectiveness to do so. We 20 quantify the global biodiversity managed by different regime types and developed a tool to 21 explore the links between level of democracy and other key socio-economic variables with the 22 number of natural history specimens registered within country boundaries. Using this tool, 23 distinct and previously unknown patterns emerge around the world, that urge for increased 24 collaboration between the natural and social sciences to further explore these patterns and 25 their underlying processes. 26 28 85 the exploration of how regime change, as well as armed conflict, affect the availability of 86 primary biodiversity data. Taking Cambodia as an example, we find a decrease of new 87 biodiversity data records by two orders of magnitude in the 1970s, coinciding with the 88 beginning of a period of conflicts and autocratization (Fig. 2c). The end of this period 89 and the corresponding increase in the level of democracy led to a sudden increase in data 90 availability. Similarly, in India political turmoil and a related decrease in the level of 91 democracy in 1975 and 1976 led to an abrupt decrease in the availability of biodiversity data 92 from national institutions (Fig. 2d). Despite historical turmoil and a minor recent decline 93 in the level of democracy, Cambodia and India mirror most other countries in exhibiting a 94 general increase in biodiversity data, probably attributable to the widespread use of citizen 95 science applications for mobile phones such as iNaturalist. 96 The relationships between political differences, socio-economic variables and biodiversity 97 knowledge are multi-faceted. 1 These links are also likely to be multi-directional. Increasing 98 societal concerns for environmental protection are likely to affect political processes and the 99 gathering of biodiversity data. In general, a causal interpretation of the observed patterns 100 is difficult, due to indirect or unclear mechanisms, and the large number of potentially 101 confounding factors. 1 The Bio-Dem app and its underlying data sources provide a useful 102 platform for research at a global and regional scale and over time. We hope it will foster 103 increased collaborations between biologists, conservationists and political and other social 104 scientists. 15 105 Material and Methods 106 Commented scripts for all analyses are available in the electronic supplement of this article 107 and the source code of the Bio-Dem app is available at https://github.com/Antonelli 108 Lab/Bio-Dem under a MIT license.109We used two datasets of species geographic distributions to estimate the fraction of 110 species covered by regime type. For amphibians, non-marine birds and mammals, we used 111 112 of Nature (www.iucn.org) together with country borders as provided by Naturalearth 113 (www.naturalearth.org) to estimate the range-weighted species endemi...

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Help restore Brazil’s governance of globally important ecosystem services

Cited by 61 publications

References 7 publications

Feedback between drought and deforestation in the Amazon

Feedback between drought and deforestation in the Amazon

Exploring the Impact of Political Regimes on Biodiversity

Exploring the impact of political regimes on biodiversity

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