Increasing expansion of large-scale crop production onto deforested land in sub-Andean South America

Graesser, Jordan; Ramankutty, Navin; Coomes, Oliver T.

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aad5bf

Cited by 50 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The broader Chaco region has been described as undergoing a transition from a dominance ranching to one of mechanized farming of commodity crops over the past three decades (e.g. Graesser, Ramankutty, & Coomes, 2018), as has been reported in other areas including parts of Brazil and directly north in Bolivia (e.g. Killeen et al, 2008).…”

Section: Contrasting Contributions To Tree-cover Lossmentioning

confidence: 94%

Contrasting tree-cover loss and subsequent land cover in two neotropical forest regions: sample-based assessment of the Mexican Yucatán and Argentine Chaco

Krylov

Steininger

Hansen

et al. 2018

Journal of Land Use Science

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2018) Contrasting tree-cover loss and subsequent land cover in two neotropical forest regions: sample-based assessment of the Mexican Yucatán and Argentine ABSTRACTThe neotropical-forest's northern and southern extremes, covering the Mexican Yucatán and the Argentine Chaco, have among the highest rates of recent tree-cover loss in the biome. This study contrasts the character of loss in these regions, estimating proportions of types of loss and subsequent land cover. It is based on two-stage probability sampling design and field and satellite-image surveys. All estimates include uncertainties, which could be further reduced via model-assisted estimation or additional sampling. This approach can be replicated in other regions to estimate types of loss and associated land cover from a definitive, in-situ perspective. The character of loss in the two areas differed greatly. That in the Yucatán was 54% temporary, mostly under fallow or selectively logged, while that in the Chaco was 85% permanent, split nearly equally between crops and pasture. These data contribute to a quantitative basis for studies of socio-economic drivers of neotropical deforestation. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Contrasting Contributions To Tree-cover Lossmentioning

confidence: 94%

Contrasting tree-cover loss and subsequent land cover in two neotropical forest regions: sample-based assessment of the Mexican Yucatán and Argentine Chaco

Krylov

Steininger

Hansen

et al. 2018

Journal of Land Use Science

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“…To obtain NTL data (specifically infrastructure transition classes) at the hexagon scale we performed to following steps: (1) convert raster NTL to shapefile; (2) perform a union analysis (geoprocessing tool) between the NTL and the hexagon grid; and 3) extract the total area of the three infrastructure transition classes (ND-SC, ND-AG, SC-AG) for each hexagon. The hexagon area of 115.47 km 2 was selected to match the scale of analysis of relevant studies of land use change [36,37] to facilitate comparisons. Using a hexagonal grid to find neighbors is more straightforward than using circles or squares, because the edge or length of contact is the same on each side, and the centroid of each neighbor is equidistant.…”

Section: Infrastructure Expansion Hotspotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Brazil megalopolis is a major agricultural (increase of 44,203 km 2 ) and economic (mean PPP change: 1.55 US Billion dollars) region and is highly urbanized (9,460,190 of urban population increase). The expansion of large-scale farming (mainly soybean) far from urban areas increased the demand for infrastructure (e.g., transportation and storage logistics) [37]. In addition, sugarcane production for biofuels has increased and replaced pastures [74].…”

Section: Clusters Of Infrastructure Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Socio-Economic and Environmental Variables Associated with Hotspots of Infrastructure Expansion in South America

Andrade‐Núñez

Aide

2020

Remote Sensing

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The built environment, defined as all human-made infrastructure, is increasing to fulfill the demand for human settlements, productive systems, mining, and industries. Due to the profound direct and indirect impacts that the built environment produces on natural ecosystems, it is considered a major driver of land change and biodiversity loss, and a major component of global environmental change. In South America, a global producer of minerals and agricultural commodities, and a region with many biodiversity hotspots, infrastructure expanded considerably between 2001 and 2011. This expansion occurred mainly in rural areas, towns, and sprawling suburban areas that were not previously developed. Herein, we characterized the areas of major infrastructure expansion between 2001 and 2011 in South America. We used nighttime light data, land use maps, and socio-economic and environmental variables to answer the following questions: (1) Where are the hotspots of infrastructure expansion located? and (2) What combination of socio-economic and environmental variables are associated with infrastructure expansion? Hotspots of infrastructure expansion encompass 70% (337,310 km2) of the total infrastructure expansion occurring between 2001 and 2011 across South America. Urban population and economic growth, mean elevation, and mean road density were the main variables associated with the hotspots, grouping them into eight clusters. Furthermore, within the hotspots, woody vegetation increased around various urban centers, and several areas showed a large increase in agriculture. Investments in large scale infrastructure projects, and the expansion and intensification of productive systems (e.g., agriculture and meat production) play a dominant role in the increase of infrastructure across South America. We expect that under the current trends of globalization and land changes, infrastructure will continue increasing and expanding into no-development areas and remote places. Therefore, to fully understand the direct and indirect impacts of land use change in natural ecosystems studies of infrastructure need to expand to areas beyond cities. This will provide better land management alternatives for the conservation of biodiversity as well as peri-urban areas across South America.

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“…Regrettably, this diversity is associated with productive and fertile systems and highly valued natural resources. Agriculture, forestry, mining, oil and gas exploitation, dam construction, and settlements are some examples of human activities and land-uses that have been expanding and intensifying across South America [14][15][16][17][18][19] as a consequence of the increase in human population and their needs for natural resources and consumption patterns. The expansion of these and other land-uses have reduced forest cover around many PAs [16,20,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using nighttime lights to assess infrastructure expansion within and around protected areas in South America

Andrade‐Núñez

Aide

2020

Environ. Res. Commun.

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Protected areas (PAs) are important mechanisms for conserving biodiversity and buffering anthropogenic pressures, but the expansion and intensification of human activities within and around PAs are threatening the biological diversity they are designed to protect. In South America, a region which includes many biodiversity hotspots (e.g., Atlantic Forest, Andes), agriculture, mining, oil and gas exploitation, dam construction, and settlements have been expanding and intensifying within and around PAs. These human activities need infrastructure (e.g., buildings, logistic facilities, ports), which leads to increased pressure on PAs. In this study, we used nighttime light data and the World Database on Protected Areas to evaluate the extent of intrusion of infrastructure in PAs in South America between 2001 and 2011. Our results show that in general PAs in all of the seven IUCN categories are buffering the intrusion of infrastructure within them, but this was not the case for PAs in multiple-use categories where there was a considerable increase in infrastructure within these PAs. The largest increase in infrastructure occurred within the first 60 km from the border of the PAs, and for multiple-use categories, the peak occurred in the first 10 km. In addition, infrastructure expansion around PAs in category I showed more variability and the largest extent. Infrastructure expansion within and around PAs varied among countries. There were only 23 of the 2,902 PAs with zero expansion, 16 were located in Brazil, four in Colombia, and one in Suriname, Venezuela, and French Guiana. Ecuador and Venezuela were the two countries that had the most infrastructure expansion within and around their PAs, while Guyana and French Guiana had the least development. Presently, South America has ∼22% of the land area under some type of protection. Hopefully, the management of PAs will improve to help buffer the impacts of human activities and improve biodiversity conservation. Unfortunately, our results show that opposite, infrastructure is expanding within and around the PAs, which will most likely lead to ecological degradation and isolation of many of these PAs.

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Increasing expansion of large-scale crop production onto deforested land in sub-Andean South America

Cited by 50 publications

References 49 publications

Contrasting tree-cover loss and subsequent land cover in two neotropical forest regions: sample-based assessment of the Mexican Yucatán and Argentine Chaco

Contrasting tree-cover loss and subsequent land cover in two neotropical forest regions: sample-based assessment of the Mexican Yucatán and Argentine Chaco

The Socio-Economic and Environmental Variables Associated with Hotspots of Infrastructure Expansion in South America

Using nighttime lights to assess infrastructure expansion within and around protected areas in South America

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