Abstract ID: 101

Land Reform Settlement in the Brazilian Amazon: new drivers of LCLUC

Land reform in Brazil has moved into the Amazon basin, affecting the environment in colonization areas throughout the region. Research addressing the causes of Amazonian deforestation has implicated many factors, ranging from the role of markets in the south of Brazil to the size of individual farming households, but much remains to be learned about the impact of land reform on land cover and land use change. This paper seeks to comprehend land cover and land use change in Amazônia by direct reference to the underlying social and institutional circumstances that have contributed to direct action land reform (DALR) settlement formation in the Amazon. The main objective of the research presented is to comprehend the social processes leading to spontaneously-formed assentamentos, and to assess associated impacts on Amazonian deforestation. Tests on three hypotheses are presented to consider the impact of spontaneous DALR on Amazonian deforestation the data used were derived from field surveys, key informant interviews, and satellite images. Two of the hypotheses involve identification of the factors responsible for the emergence of such settlements, and one of them assesses their environmental impact on the landscape. More specifically, hypothesis 1 states that spontaneous DALR occurs on unclaimed public lands beyond the frontier, given the low land value of primary forest areas. Hypothesis 2 asserts that spontaneous DALR is a consequence of early land reform policies that stimulated in-migration to the region, as well as from the demographic life cycle of colonist households. The third hypothesis states that spontaneous DALR accelerates rates of deforestation and intensifies processes of forest fragmentation. The empirical results presented broadly support these hypotheses, although fragmentation and deforestation magnitudes vary across settlements. This paper also calls attention to the role of land law in facilitating settlement formation.

Session:  LCLUC and Human Dimensions - Social-economic drivers of land-use and land-cover change.

Presentation Type:  Oral