Abstract
The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest biome, containing almost 50% of the planet’s known biodiversity and is the biggest source of fresh water, which is approximately one-fifth of the global reserves. However, the sustainable use of this ecosystem is threatened by several factors, and deforestation is the main problem. This study addresses the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon forest, in particular evaluate the determinants of the deforestation process, using for this purpose, time-series of several socioeconomic factors from 1990 to 2015. The methodology applied included statistical analyzes based on the application of multivariate discriminant analysis with the stepwise criteria. The results showed that in order of importance cattle, roads network, population, logging and crop areas were the determinant variables of the deforestation in the amazon. Key words: Cattle, population, deforestation, Brazilian Amazon.
Highlights
IntroductionThe Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest biome, containing almost 50% of the planet’s known biodiversity and its biggest source of fresh water, which is approximately one-fifth of the global reserves
This study addresses the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon forest, in particular evaluate the determinants of the deforestation process, using for this purpose, timeseries of several socioeconomic factors from 1990 to 2015
The results showed that in order of importance cattle, roads network, population, logging and crop areas were the determinant variables of the deforestation in the amazon
Summary
The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest biome, containing almost 50% of the planet’s known biodiversity and its biggest source of fresh water, which is approximately one-fifth of the global reserves. The sustainable use of this ecosystem is threatened by several factors, being deforestation its main reason, since it affects natural resources availableness for future generations and jeopardizes a wide range of environmental services, like hydrological cycle, regional climates maintenance and global carbon stocking (Davidson, 2012). Deforestation promotes ecosystem alterations, such as rainfall decreasing, evapotranspiration reduction, hydric resources contamination (Roulet et al, 2000) and a significant biodiversity loss (Portela and Rademacher, 2001), aggravated by exploration methods used in the Amazon, which increases fauna and flora prejudices and causes a considerable soil productivity loss (Machado and Aguiar, 2001).
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