Patterns of land cover change and land use intensification
Diogenes
S
Alves, INPE, dalves@dpi.inpe.br
(Presenting)
The mapping of deforestation in Brazilian Amazon started in a pioneer assessment carried out by INPE and IBDF in the 1970s. Three decades later, inter-annual deforestation rates are regularly estimated at INPE, and land cover/use studies are executed by state agencies, universities and NGOs based everywhere in Brazil, including the Amazon. Recent progresses in understanding patterns and processes of land cover/land use change have been achieved within LBA, helping to improve our understanding of human occupation and some of its impacts on the functioning of Amazonian systems.
Ironically, the significant advances in science and the dissemination of techniques have helped to witness surprisingly high deforestation rates during the past few years. Besides, the recent peak in deforestation rates occurred after Forest Code limits to clear cut were augmented, and Land Zoning and Land Development legislation was passed in Mato Grosso and Rondônia.
Here, we hypothesize that not only deforestation has intensified in recent years, but land use equally tends to "intensify" as the frontier gets “older”. Intensification of land use leads to specific impacts on the biogeochemical and hydrological functioning of Amazonian systems, thus representing new challenges to the “natural” sciences agenda in LBA, where intensification is not usually taken into consideration. In addition, intensification of land use puts very challenging questions from to the “human dimensions” perspective in LBA. We conclude by reviewing some indications of land use intensification and pointing out some challenges of understanding intensification to foresee how the Amazonian territory and people living in different regions can be affected by such process.