The role of land use and cover on the conservation of permanent preservation areas in alto Xingu River Basin - MT

• Grant number: 18/09871-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: September 01, 2018
• End date: February 29, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Maria Victoria Ramos Ballester
• Grantee: Mayra de Freitas Preto
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In the last decades, a striking agribusiness expansion and intensification in Brazilian Amazon agricultural frontier is promoting a fast shift in land use and cover, associated with high deforestation rates and environmental impacts. The Alto Xingu River Basin is located in Mato Grosso, the Brazilian state with one of the highest rates of agricultural and livestock production, as well as deforestation. The Alto Xingu currently presents several disputes amongst conservationist and agrarian sectors, representing one of the most threatened Amazon watershed by land use change. Although legally protected as "Permanent Preservation Areas" (APPs - acronym in Portuguese), riparian zones are under constantly anthropic pressure in this region, and governmental efforts to protect these areas have been under scrutiny. The impacts promoted by riparian vegetation removal affects both ecological functions and water security. Considering the increasing agrarian pressure over this region and the lack of recent and specific data, this work aims to evaluate environmental liabilities in APPs located in private rural properties in the Alto Xingu watershed, focusing on the role of patterns of land use and occupation. A landscape analysis will be performed using geoprocessing techniques to evaluate deforestation, land use change, landscape spatial patterns and structure. The influence of cattle ranching and soybean cultivation, the main regional economic activities, as well as land tenure, will be analyzed and compared. The impact of environmental legislation together with regional public policies will be also under investigation.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PRETO, MAYRA DE FREITAS; GARCIA, ANDREA SANTOS; NAKAI, ERICA SILVA; CASARIN, LAURA PIACENTINI; VILELA, VIVIAN MARIA DE FARIA NASSER; BALLESTER, MARIA VICTORIA RAMOS. The role of environmental legislation and land use patterns on riparian deforestation dynamics in an Amazonian agricultural frontier (MT, Brazil). LAND USE POLICY, v. 118, p. 13-pg., 2022-07-01. (18/09871-8, 15/05103-8)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

PRETO, Mayra de Freitas. Influence of land use and occupation patterns and legal regime in Permanent Preservation Areas maintenance in the Alto Xingu basin, MT. 2020. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC) Piracicaba.