Is deforestation accelerating in the Brazilian Amazon?

Abstract

SummaryRecent studies suggest that deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon could increase sharply in the future as a result of over US$ 40 billion in planned investments in highway paving and major new infrastructure projects in the region. These studies have been challenged by several Brazilian ministries, which assert that recent improvements in environmental laws, enforcement and public attitudes have fundamentally reduced the threat posed to forests by such projects. The notion that hazards to Amazonian forests have declined over the last decade was assessed using available data on deforestation rates from 1978 to 2000. Although the alarmingly high rate of forest loss during 1978-1989 (1.98 million ha yr Ϫ1 ) declined somewhat in 1990-1994 (1.38 million ha yr Ϫ1 ), it rebounded to a high level in the period 1995-2000 (1.90 million ha yr Ϫ1 ). Moreover, correlation and regression analyses reveal that both absolute and per caput rates of forest loss accelerated significantly over the last decade. These trends fail to support the assertion that deforestation pressure in Amazonian forests has been brought under control. Poor enforcement of existing environmental laws, rapidly expanding logging and mining industries, increasing population pressure and other challenges are greatly hindering efforts to limit the environmental impacts of development activities in Brazilian Amazonia.

Pathways affect vegetation structure and composition in the Atlantic Forest in southeastern Brazil

“…Vine abundance is also positively related to increases in linear gaps (Laurance et al 2001;Bataghin et al 2010). …”

When bigger is better: the need for Amazonian mega-reserves

“…Illegal logging is rampant, laws that regulate deforestation on private properties are rarely enforced, illicit forest invasions are common, and numerous reserves are being threatened by illegal deforestation, predatory loggers and gold-miners [4]. Such pressures will only increase as highways and other transportation infrastructure infiltrate throughout the basin [2], bringing conservation units and the expanding Amazonian population into ever-closer contact.…”

“…Because of limited enforcement, even nominally fully protected reserves in Amazonia often suffer from poaching, wildfires, predatory logging and illegal gold mining [4]. The smaller the reserve, the more difficult it is to protect from the direct and indirect impacts of human encroachment.…”

Causes of habitat loss in a Neotropical landscape: The Panama Canal corridor

“…These factors were chosen based on their known direct or indirect effects on habitat loss in other regions in temperate or tropical countries (Southgate et al, 1991;Laurance et al, 2001;Seabloom et al, 2002;Lambin et al, 2003 and references therein).…”

“…Data were interpolated for each subregion and verified by experts from the government. As Laurance et al (2002a) did, we distinguished urban and rural populations, because urban population size and density are far greater than their rural counterparts, and both affect habitat loss in different ways (Laurance et al, 2001(Laurance et al, , 2002a(Laurance et al, , 2006. We used population size, not density, for urbanized areas because the latter was much less variable than the former.…”