1. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
Devon Calhoun

2. Scope Increasing levels of Deforestation
Increasing levels of Forest Degradation
Increasing levels of CO2 release
Focusing on recent downturns ( ) and upturns (2013) in both deforestation and degradation
Forest degradation = can participate in forest regeneration

3. Trends: Rates of Deforestation and Forest Degradation
In a 10 year time frame ( ) 169,074 km squared of Amazonia forest was converted to human-dominated land uses
50,815 km sqared was directly altered by timber harvesting and/or fire, equivalent to 30% of the area converted by deforestation
Peak 2004
Lowest in 2010
Overall – rates have lowered since 2005
Interesting to note that some of the biggest down turns in deforestation cause an upturn in forest degredation trends

4. Trends: Rates of Deforestation and Forest Degradation cont.
Deforestation rates continued to decrease until 2012
km^2 and km^2
reduction by 57%
TWO KEY CHANGES:
Degradation has had a 75% reduction compared to 2012
28% Increase in deforestation in the Amazon in 2013
Why?

6. Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research

7. Conditions/Drivers Infrastructure expansion
Road construction, hydropower development, and mineral exploitation
Agricultural expansion (cattle ranching and crop expansion)
Selective logging
Forest Fires
Currently, 20% of the original forest cover of this region has been converted to pasture, agricultural lands, and, to a lesser degree urban areas

8. Forest degredation processes and interactions found in the BA
selective logging = creating favorable conditions for burning when fires from adjacent agricultural fields unintentionally escape
logging fires = can be recurrent
Can be converted to deforestation – increasing forest edges and landscape fragmentation
Eventually degraded forests can regenerate

9. Alternatives / Conditions for Downturns
Protected areas
Strict enforcement/fines
Compensating Reductions/ Credit reductions
Educating populations (indigenous, rural, urban) on Avoided Deforestation (AD) practices
Economic Incentives for sustainable land use methods
Intensify the combat against illegal deforestation
Brazil has the largest Protected area system in the world- covering approx. 220 million hectares.

10. Alternatives : REDD + Evaluation of Forests
Legal and institutional analysis
Monitoring carbon emissions
Technical studies for REDD+ projects
Forest recomposition
Green Municipalities
Capacity-building
Support for public policies and dissemination
REDD+ = seeks to contribute to increasing efficiency in governance for REDD+ initiatives; contribute to monitoring carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in the region, as well as stimulate development of mechanism for payment for environmental services

11. Why this recent upturn in 2013?
“The government can’t be surprised by this increase in deforestation, given that their own action is what’s pushing it. The change of the Forest Code and the resulting amnesty for those who illegally felled the forest sent the message that such crimes have no consequences”
- Greenpeace
Weakening of Legal Protections
The revised Forest Code was passed in 2012 after more than a decade of efforts by Brazil's powerful agricultural lobby. The changes eased restrictions for smaller landowners, allowing them to clear land closer to riverbanks, and allowed those who had illegally felled land to not face penalties if they signed an agreement to replant trees, which many environmentalists say is unlikely to be enforced.
push by Rousseff government's for infrastructure projects in the Amazon region was also a cause, noting that much of the recent destruction was along a government-improved highway running through Para and Mato Grosso states, which eases the transport of illegal timber. Another factor is high global food prices which drives forest clearance for cattle and soya farming.

12. Larger Scale Projections
Determine success of alternative methods
BAU
Recent downturn- shows a lack of enforcement that is likely to continue without a change
Patterns may continue
Reforms
Deforestation will decrease with effective implementation of successful alternatives
Requires more research in determining which alternatives are most successful