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Pervasive transition of the Brazilian land-use system

Nature Climate Change volume 4, pages 27–35 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Agriculture, deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions and local/regional climate change have been closely intertwined in Brazil. Recent studies show that this relationship has been changing since the mid 2000s, with the burgeoning intensification and commoditization of Brazilian agriculture. On one hand, this accrues considerable environmental dividends including a pronounced reduction in deforestation (which is becoming decoupled from agricultural production), resulting in a decrease of ∼40% in nationwide greenhouse gas emissions since 2005, and a potential cooling of the climate at the local scale. On the other hand, these changes in the land-use system further reinforce the long-established inequality in land ownership, contributing to rural–urban migration that ultimately fuels haphazard expansion of urban areas. We argue that strong enforcement of sector-oriented policies and solving long-standing land tenure problems, rather than simply waiting for market self-regulation, are key steps to buffer the detrimental effects of agricultural intensification at the forefront of a sustainable pathway for land use in Brazil.

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Figure 1: Spatial distribution of agriculture in Brazilian biomes in 2000.
Figure 2: Trends in land-use change and agricultural expansion in Brazil during the 1990–2012 period.
Figure 4: Evolution of agrarian structure in Brazil between 1985 and 2006.
Figure 5: Greenhouse gas emissions associated with land use in Brazil3,76.
Figure 3: Biofuels, roads, protected areas and fire in Brazilian biomes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E.L. Dalla Nora, A.O. Manzi and K.-H. Erb for their helpful comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Laboratório de Ciência do Sistema Terrestre, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, 13506-900, São Paulo, Brazil

    David M. Lapola

  2. Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, 13400-000, São Paulo, Brazil

    Luiz A. Martinelli

  3. School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Carlos A. Peres

  4. Centro de Ciência do Sistema Terrestre, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, São José dos Campos, 12227-010, São Paulo, Brazil

    Jean P. H. B. Ometto, Carlos A. Nobre, Ana Paula D. Aguiar, Manoel F. Cardoso & Gilvan Sampaio

  5. Instituto de Estudos Sócio-Ambientais, Laboratório de Processamento de Imagens e Geoprocessamento, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, 74001-970, Brazil

    Manuel E. Ferreira

  6. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, 70919-970, Distrito Federal, Brazil

    Mercedes M. C. Bustamante

  7. Departamento de Engenharia Agrícola, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, 36570-000, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Marcos H. Costa & Christiane C. Leite

  8. Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, 13081-970, São Paulo, Brazil

    Carlos A. Joly

  9. Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, Brasília, 71503-505, Distrito Federal, Brazil

    Paulo Moutinho

  10. International Institute for Sustainability, Rio de Janeiro, 22460-320, Brazil

    Bernardo B. N. Strassburg

  11. Departamento de Geografia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 22451-900, Brazil

    Bernardo B. N. Strassburg

  12. Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, 66040-170, Pará, Brazil

    Ima C. G. Vieira

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Contributions

D.M.L., L.A.M., C.A.P., J.P.H.B.O., M.E.F. and C.A.N. designed the research. All authors contributed to the writing.

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Correspondence to David M. Lapola.

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Lapola, D., Martinelli, L., Peres, C. et al. Pervasive transition of the Brazilian land-use system. Nature Clim Change 4, 27–35 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2056

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