Search

Since the period of the military dictatorship in Brazil, Amazon has become the focus through public and credit policies to privilege the interests of capital over traditional people (riverine people, fishermen, quilombolas, indigenous people), secular settled population, and other subjects (landless workers, those settled in agrarian reform projects). They are forcibly deterritorialized in this logic of integration of national and international capital in the exploration and production of commodities in this space. This paper aims to portray the recent perspective of the last two decades of territorialization process of international interest, with the inflow of large capital resources, such as mining and hydroelectric energy production. The methodology used was the case study, with interviews, documentary, and bibliography research. These enterprises, of great magnitude of socio-territorial transformations, tend to provoke a new process of deterritorialization of hundreds of families of rural workers, as in the case of those settled in agrarian reform projects, riverine people, quilombolas and indigenous people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current paper analyzes the southern frontier of the state of Pará and the northern territory of the state of Maranhão, Brazil, close to the river Turiaçu and assesses its importance for the displacement of people and goods during Portuguese colonial rule and in the post-1822 Independence years. The paper investigates the strategic and political relevance of the frontier for travel and transport, correspondence and transport of goods within the context of the Brazilian Indigenes, merchants and the Portuguese and Brazilian governments. The conflicts between inhabitants and settlers are highlighted in the essay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper describes the contentious process of settlement formation of a particular type of land reform settlement, which we call "spontaneous" direct action land reform. In addition, the paper place the settlement formation process within a land cover and land use framework by describing the underlying processes that lead to spontaneous settlement formation in terra devoluta in the Brazilian Amazon. The paper concludes with policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Amazon rainforest is one of the world''s greatest natural wonders and holds great importance and significance for the world''s environmental balance. Around 60% of the Amazon rainforest is located in the Brazilian territory. The two biggest states of the Amazon region are Amazonas (the upper Amazon) and Pará (the lower Amazon), which together account for around 73% of the Brazilian Legal Amazon, and are the only states that are serviced by international airports in Brazil''s north region. The purpose of this paper is to model and forecast sustainable international tourism demand for the states of Amazonas, Pará, and the aggregate of the two states. By sustainable tourism is meant a distinctive type of tourism that has relatively low environmental and cultural impacts. Economic progress brought about by illegal wood extraction and commercial agriculture has destroyed large areas of the Amazon rainforest. The sustainable tourism industry has the potential to contribute to the economic development of the Amazon region without destroying the rainforest. The paper presents unit root tests for monthly and annual data, estimates alternative time series models and conditional volatility models of the shocks to international tourist arrivals, and provides forecasts for 2006 and 2007. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An important goal of regional development in the Brazilian Amazon was to enhance social welfare and alleviate dire poverty in other parts of the country by providing land to the poor. Nevertheless, both poverty and landlessness have persisted despite development policies that distributed billions of dollars on highway construction, loans, and outright subsidies. Inequitable land distribution has been held as a prime factor in land conflict across the country. Although episodes of conflict over land are common in Brazilian history, this paper focuses on agrarian issues that arose with the opening of the Amazon frontier in the 1970s. The paper presents a political economy approach that considers the role of hierarchical forces interacting across spatial scales, in creating conditions ripe for land conflict at the local level. The premise is that the Brazilian government, intending to bring about economic and social development, promoted contradictory strategies creating land scarcity. These strategies led to expansion of large ranching operations, creation of conservation units, and demarcation of indigenous reserves, which constrained the pool of land available for small farmer settlement. Empirical analysis employing regression and spatial statistics is used to test the proposed model, advancing previous efforts by applying spatial regression, incorporating improved indicators of conflict and explanatory variables generated by a Geographic Information System (GIS). The findings provide support for some elements of the argument, demonstrating statistically significant relationships between land conflict and land concentration, cattle ranching, and road construction. Finally, a case study analysis of a county in the heart of the land conflict zone is provided, illustrating the interaction of scalar forces, and the articulation of land conflict at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental destruction caused by fires threatens to forever change the ecological composition of tropical rainforests. Researchers have addressed the role of drought and logging on fire propagation and the ecological consequences of fires. Nevertheless, little is known about its human dimensions. This lack of information is of concern because it represents a real and important gap in our own understanding about a major global change factor. This paper attempts to partly redress this shortcoming by presenting a pilot study that considers the importance of farming systems and social capital to the mitigation or exacerbation of fire in Amazonia. The paper explores the theoretical connection between social capital and fire contagion, and presents results from a pilot study examining such links. This study combines satellite data analysis and data on community organization derived from household surveys in the municipio of Uruará in the State of Pará, Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The project 'Tropical Biomass & Carbon' and its main product TB&C App is introduced. • TB&C App is an user-friendly tool that estimates C stored in forests of Brazil. • Model performance analysis proved reliability >95% of the TB&C App's models. • Carbon in Amazonian forests can be accurately and precisely estimated. • A dataset containing 64,000 plots with forest variables is delivered as supplement. This article introduces the Tropical Biomass & Carbon Application – the 'TB&C App', a web application available on the permanent link www.tropicalbiomass.com. The TB&C App requires as input attributes 'the smallest and largest diameters', 'number of trees ha−1', basal area ha−1, and 'parameters of the diameter (beta) distribution' describing stand structure. The App delivers outputs at two levels: (1) Stand level, including mean aboveground biomass (AGB) and carbon (AGC), in Mg ha−1, along with confidence intervals (CIs) as measures of uncertainty, and; (2) Tree level estimates, with AGB and diameter for every simulated tree. Phase 1 of the project TB&C comprises four Brazilian forest (and non-forest) formations: Campinarana, Floresta estacional, Floresta ombrofila , and Savana. This article aims to (i) describe the algorithm written for the TB&C App, and (ii) present results of Phase 1. This first phase counts on a standardized database of 1,428 trees with field-measured dry AGB, from plots across the different formations, which is the largest tree-biomass database compiled so far in Brazil. Model uncertainties were incorporated into the modeling process, allowing computation of CIs through an uncertainty approach. The total variance of residuals of AGB was also modeled, aiming at predicting CIs as a function of the quantity of AGB. An analysis of reliability of the equations implemented in the TB&C App indicates that more than 95% (n = 64,000) of the true AGB's fit into the CI outputted by the TB&C App. A comparison with other approaches in the literature shows significant agreement with previous estimates and more conservative estimates where previously-published estimates disagreed with the TB&C App. We cite as advantages of the TB&C App; (i) reliability of the outputs, (ii) a user-friendly layout, (iii) AGB and AGC estimates provided along with robust CIs, and (iv) estimates at the stand and tree levels with consistent totals. A biomass dataset containing information on 64,000 plots is also delivered as supplement of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kaolin is a clay mineral with several applications, especially as filler in the paper industry. Brazil has the largest kaolin processing plant in the world located in the Amazon region. Kaolin mining activities generate high volumes of waste, resulting in additional costs and environmental impacts, and therefore, new approaches for their reduction are necessary. This work elucidates, for the first time, the technological valorization of abundant Amazon Brazilian kaolin mining waste to synthesize pure-phase zeolitic material with the antibacterial application. For the synthesis optimization, it was evaluated the influence of the type of kaolin (natural or thermally treated at 600 °C), the crystallization period (4, 6 and 24 h), the suppression of aluminum source (sodium aluminate) and the zinc ion-exchanging procedure. The materials were characterized by various techniques including powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), aluminum nuclear magnetic resonance with magic-angle spinning (27Al MAS NMR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), N 2 adsorption/desorption isotherms, chemical analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results reveal that it is possible to direct the synthesis to the different zeolite structure with simple thermal treatment of the raw material, obtaining crystalline Linde Type A (LTA) or sodalite (SOD) zeolites using thermally treated or natural kaolin, respectively. Under the optimized synthesis conditions, the LTA zeolite was obtained after rapid crystallization in 6 h and without commercial aluminum supplementation. The Zn-exchanged LTA zeolites containing 4 and 7 wt% of Zn were applied as antibacterial materials. They presented growth inhibition zones between 7 and 8 mm for Gram-positive bacteria (Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica) while pure kaolin and LTA zeolite without Zn did not show antibacterial activity. These results offer new opportunities on the way that kaolin-mining industries manage their wastes. [Display omitted] • Pure kaolin led to obtaining pure-phase SOD-type zeolite. • Thermally treated kaolin led to obtaining pure-phase LTA-type zeolite. • The zinc-LTA exhibited activity against gram-positive bacteria (L monocytogenes and S. aureus). • The zinc-LTA exhibited activity against gram-negative bacteria (E.coli and S. choleraesuis). • The zinc-LTA exhibited growth inhibition zones between 7 and 8 mm for all studied bacteria. Abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world today is an urban world. While rural to urban migration has contributed significantly to the increased urbanization of the globe, that process has not always been as clear and permanent as it appears. In this paper we report on the migration of smallholders to peri-urban interface ( PUI) zones in western Pará state, Brazil. We found that rural-urban migrants were constrained by their lack of marketable skills and as a consequence had few job prospects and experienced a low quality of life in the cities to which they had migrated. This led them to resettle in places at the PUI where they have the ability to supplement limited wages with more familiar subsistence activities, which reflected cultural identity and rural antecedents while enjoying a higher quality of life. The recent implementation in Brazil of a variety of conditional cash-transfer programs has added to the attractiveness of peri-urban places and contributes to a regional shift to livelihoods based on a combination of agriculture and extractivism supplemented by support from federal assistance programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents new records of Passiflora L. from the Brazilian Amazon, contributing to the knowledge about the taxonomy and distribution of Passifloraceae in Brazil. The following species are reported for the first time: Passiflora garckei Mast. in Brazil; Passiflora candida (Poepp. & Endl.) Mast. in Amapá state; P. retipetala Mast. in Pará state; and P. tholozanii Sacco in Maranhão state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current article is foregrounded on the relevant trajectory of the press as an object of historiographic reflection, with special reference to its geographical expansion in Brazil between the late 19th century and the early 20th century. It was precisely during this period that there was a displacement from the great urban centers and reached far and remote spaces. The paper deals with recent studies on the press in the Amazon underscoring the need for transpositioning of an annoying historiographic silence on the experiences within small villages and towns in the Amazon mobilized by an expanding rubber economy and based on a strong migratory movement to the region´s rubber trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the dynamics of land-use in the Brazilian Amazon using a structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model. A fixed effect panel data specification is used to control for the heterogeneity in the data. Meanwhile, spatial autocorrelation is also diagnosed by a statistical methodology that allows us to split the model in subsamples (clusters) of more homogenous municipalities. The clustering analysis shows that there are three clusters whose land-use patterns are strongly different in an economical point of view. The first cluster identifies municipalities dedicated to logging, natural resources exploitation and slash-and-burn cultures; the second cluster shows a more diversified agriculture; while the third cluster presents very developed intensive agriculture municipalities. Another contribution of this article relies on the assessment of contemporaneous causal relation among distinct land-uses areas. This new approach allows us to evaluate the dynamics relations arisen from unexpected innovations in the process of soil occupation. The impulse response functions (IRF) and the forecast error variance decompositions (FEVD) generate the following results: (1) in the opposition direction of previous studies, we find that the demand for cropping does not require to clear new areas of forest.; (2) contrary to previous studies we do not find indication that cattle ranching is the primary driver of deforestation; (3) the impact of a shock of pasture land on itself is virtually null at the initial stages, but increases over time, not requiring to clear extra areas of forest land but rather competing with crop land; (4) it seems that if not for all the Amazon Basin, at least in one cluster, cattle ranching and cropping could be competitive activities; and (5) we find out that in the long run pasture innovation is responsible for the major percent of the forecast error concern all land uses. It probably means that the destiny of distinct categories of land, in cluster one, is endogenously determine by activities connected to cattle. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the impact of agricultural technical efficiency on the propensity of farmers to convert natural land into agricultural plots, i.e., to deforest, in the Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA). A two-step econometric approach is adopted. A bootstrapped translog stochastic frontier that is a posteriori checked for functional consistency is used to assess technical efficiency and these estimates are put into a land-use model to assess the impact of productivity on deforestation. Analysis of agricultural census tract data suggests that technical efficiency has a U-shaped effect: both less and more efficient farms use more land for their agricultural activities and so have a positive effect on deforestation. However, the majority of farms in the BLA are on the ascendant slope, so that efficiency implies more deforestation in the BLA. The poor environmental valuation of the Brazilian forest, the uneven land distribution, and the problem of the de facto openly accessed forested and “unproductive” lands in the BLA could explain the U-shaped effect of technical efficiency on the conversion of forested land into agricultural land. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper analyses poverty and inequality dynamics among smallholders along the Transamazon Highway. We measure changes in poverty and inequality for original settlers and new owners, contrasting income-based with multidimensional indices of well-being. Our results show an overall reduction in both poverty and inequality among smallholders, although poverty decline was more pronounced among new owners, while inequality reduction was larger among original settlers. This trend suggests that families have an initial improvement in livelihood and well-being which tends to reach a limit later-a sign of structural limitations common to rural areas and maybe a replication of boom and bust trends in local economies among Amazonian municipalities. In addition, our multidimensional estimates of well-being reveal that some economically viable land use strategies of smallholders (e.g., pasture) may have important ecological implications for the regional landscape. These findings highlight the public policy challenges for fostering sustainable development among rural populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the evolution of the bilateral relations between Brazil and Suriname during the 1980s, especially with the so-called Venturini mission to Suriname. The text uses original documents from two Brazilian archives. The article shows that the main goals of Figueiredo's administration with respect to Suriname were fulfilled, especially concerning the avoidance of an East-West conflict in the sensitive north frontier of the country and in the Amazon region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper focuses on supplying electrical power for remote communities of the Brazilian Amazon using regional biomass, specifically palm oil biomass, as a primary energy source. The use of Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) as fuel, is indicated for isolated communities, where the hydro plants or the installation of transmissions line are impracticable. The use of vegetable oils produced in the communities, is a solution when an adequate infrastructure to extracting the oil is available. Brazil is able to use an enormous diversity of vegetable oils, due to a great variety of plants, and the favorable climatic conditions. Technical, economic, environmental and social aspects are analyzed in order to provide a basis for electrical power supply viability in these communities. A case study is presented focused on a typical Brazilian Amazon community located in the State of Pará in order to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed viability strategy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper is the result of research based on the social conflict caused by the building of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte in the Xingu River (Pará State, eastern Amazonia) and the follow-up "Regional Sustainable Development Plan of the Xingu Region". It is part of a larger conceptual analytical framework that combines the principles of the sociological current of New institutionalism, with the theory of action by Jürgen Habermas. Based on the analysis of instrumental and strategic action of the political, social and economic players in this region, which has been characterized as peripheric, a series of variables are established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of human occupation in Brazilian Amazonia is heterogeneous in space and time. The goal of this paper is to explore intra-regional differences in land-use determining factors. We built spatial regression models to assess the determining factors of deforestation, pasture, temporary and permanent agriculture in four space partitions: the whole Amazon; the Densely Populated Arch (southern and eastern parts of the Amazon), where most deforestation has occurred; Central Amazon, where the new frontiers are located; and Occidental Amazon, still mostly undisturbed. Our land-use data combines deforestation maps derived from remote sensing and 1996 agricultural census. We compiled a spatially explicit database with 50 socio-economic and environmental potential factors using 25km×25km regular cells. Our results show that the concentrated deforestation pattern in the Arch is related to the diffusive nature of land-use change, proximity to urban centers and roads, reinforced by the higher connectivity to the more developed parts of Brazil and more favorable climatic conditions, expressed as intensity of the dry season. Distance to urban centers was used as a proxy of accessibility to local markets, and was found to be as important as distance to roads in most models. However, distance to roads and to urban centers does not explain intra-regional differences, which were captured by other factors, such as connection to national markets and more favorable climatic conditions in the Arch. Agrarian structure results show that areas in which the land structure is dominated by large and medium farms have a higher impact on deforestation and pasture extent. Temporary and permanent agriculture patterns were concentrated in areas where small farms are dominant. We conclude that the heterogeneous occupation patterns of the Amazon can only be explained when combining several factors related to the organization of the productive systems, such as favorable environmental conditions and access to local and national markets. Agrarian structure and land-use analysis reinforced this conclusion, indicating the heterogeneity of land-use systems by type of actor, and the influence of the agrarian structure on land-use patterns across the region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Mapping aboveground forest biomass is of fundamental importance for estimating CO2 emissions due to land use and land cover changes in the Brazilian Amazon. However, existing biomass maps for this region diverge in terms of the total biomass estimates derived, as well as in the spatial patterns of mapped biomass. In addition, no regional or location-specific measure of reliability accompanies most of these maps. In this study, 330 one-hectare plots from the RADAMBRASIL survey, acquired over and along areas adjacent to the state of Rondônia, were used to generate a biomass map over the entire region using geostatistics. The RADAMBRASIL samples were used to generate a biomass map, along with a measure of reliability for each biomass estimate at each location, using kriging with external drift with elevation, vegetation type and soil texture considered as biomass predictor variables. Cross-validation was performed using the sample plots to compare the performance of kriging against a simple biomass estimation using the sample mean. Overall, biomass varied from 225 to 486Mgha−1, with a local standard deviation ranging from 62 to 202Mgha−1. Large uncertainty values were obtained for regions with low sampling density, in particular in savanna areas. The geostatistical method adopted in this paper has the potential to be applied over the entire Brazilian Amazon region to provide more accurate local estimates of biomass, which would aid carbon flux estimation, along with measures of their reliability, and to identify areas where more sampling efforts should be concentrated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

1. Maracá, Brazil, is a large riverine island which is at the boundary between lowland evergreen rain forest and savanna. The island is now uninhabited but there is evidence that much of its forest (including the plots described in this paper) is secondary, dating from before 1880. 2. The mean annual rainfall is about 2300mm and there is a dry season from October to March. 3. Six replicate plots of 0.25 ha each were set up in the rain forest. Three of these were later felled, as part of a long-term study on forest regeneration, and three left undisturbed. 4. Soils were described from a profile pit and for surface samples (0-10cm) in the three undisturbed plots. The soils were a Grossarenic Plinthic Paleudult (USDA). They were acid, had exceptionally low concentrations of total phosphorus, low concentrations of exchangeable cations but a fairly high base saturation, and a sandy texture. There was no surface root mat, no surface accumulation of organic matter, and no sign of podzolization. 5. All trees and lianas ≥10cm d.b.h. in the forest plots were enumerated, and structural features of the trees (including fine-root biomass) and smaller plants were quantified. The plots had a mean tree basal area of 23.8m[Sup2] and the emergents were up to 40m tall. 6. The mean tree species richness for the plots was forty per 0.25 ha and overall the Moraccae were the most important family in terms of basal area. 7. Analyses of leaves of 38 tree species showed wide interspecific variations but, in general. leaf nutrient concentrations were moderate or high. 8. It is concluded that although the Maracá forest occurs on very nutrient-poor soils it shows neither physiognomic nor foliar chemical features which are held to be characteristic of rain forests on such soils. Moreover, even though the soils are dry and sandy, the Maracá forest shows no features of heath forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil's Amazon deforestation is a major global and national environmental concern, and the ability to model and project both its course and the effect of different policy options depends on understanding how this process occurs at present and how it might change in the future. The present paper addresses one key factor in Amazon deforestation: land-tenure concentration in settlements. Brazil's policies for establishing and regulating settlement projects represent critical government decisions shaping the landscape in the 5 × 106 km2 Legal Amazonia region. We used remote-sensing data and information provided by the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) to evaluate the effect of land-tenure concentration in a settlement project (Projeto de Assentamento) located in a frontier area where cattle-ranching is expanding. We identified the actors and their deforestation patterns in the Matupi settlement in the southern part of Brazil's state of Amazonas. We spatially identified actors who concentrated "lots" (the parcels of land distributed to individual settlers) in 2011 and assessed whether the concentration was done by individual landholders or by "families" (where members merged their lots and the clearing was done together). Deforestation rates (1995–2011) were estimated for each type of actor and the trajectory of deforestation in the settlement (cumulative deforestation to 1994 and annual deforestation 1995–2016) was also analyzed. Concentrators occupied 28% (9653 ha) of the settlement and 29% of the lots (152 lots) analyzed; the numbers of lots concentrated ranged from two to ten. Concentrators of two lots and non-concentrators were the predominant actor types in the settlement. The mean annual clearing per landholding for concentrators of two lots (families: 4.1 ± 2.8 ha (mean ± SD); individuals: 5.1 ± 4.6 ha) was greater than for non-concentrators (1.7 ± 1.2 ha), despite their having similar patterns of small clearings. Concentrators of three or more lots had mean annual clearing per landholding between 6.2 ± 12.2 ha and 23.9 ± 38.7 ha and, the pattern of patches cleared per year >34 ha in area was predominant. The deforestation rate per lot was higher among concentrators as compared to non-concentrators, showing that lot concentration speeds deforestation. Analysis of deforestation patterns helps to better understand the process of lot concentration by spatially identifying the predominant patterns of each type of actor. The approach used in our study could assist authorities in identifying and monitoring land-tenure concentration in settlements. Agrarian-reform policymakers need to monitor this process, since it speeds deforestation in Amazonian settlement projects, as well as undermining the social objectives of the agrarian-reform program. • Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia is increased by land-tenure concentration. • Settlers receive 1 lot per family, but newcomers buy out the original settlers. • "Concentrators" in settlements establish ranches of 2–10 lots (56–600 ha). • In the Matupi settlement, 29% of the lots had been concentrated after 16 years. • Concentrators with ≥3 lots typically clear in patches >34 ha in area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]