The Amazon rain forest is the largest tract of tropical forest on Earth. Its vegetation is now known to strongly influence the regional pattern of precipitation and radiation, playing an important role on the regulation of global greenhouse gases. Forest clearing, by threatening the current dynamic equilibrium of vegetation and climate, is expected to lead to important changes in the regional, and ultimately global climate. Yet, over the last decades, vast areas of the Brazilian Amazon_ where 60% of that forest is located, have being cleared for logging, pasture, and agriculture. The generation of a direct, monetary income by these activities has been used to justify the current pattern of forest exploitation. Little or no attention has been paid to the value of forests in providing ecological functions such as carbon storage, biodiversity maintenance, and water cycling. This research provides a quantitative dimension of the Brazilian Amazon ecosystem services given current patterns of land cover and their anthropogenic uses. A regional unified meta-model of the Brazilian Amazon was developed to simulate energy, water, carbon and nutrients in the terrestrial systems, and the exchanges between terrestrial systems and the atmosphere. The provision of goods and services_ the result of the conditions and processes described in the model, and their contribution to human economy and welfare were investigated under baseline and alternative scenarios. The model was further used to test the implementation of a market-based mechanism to reduce deforestation, in the form of payments for forest climate regulation service.
Submetido por Rosimeiry G Portela em 17-MAR-2004
Tema Científico do LBA: LC (Mudanças dos Usos da Terra e da Vegetação)