The effect of Amazon deforestation on climate and its link to agricultural sustainability

• Grant number: 22/11698-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: December 01, 2022
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Eduardo Oliveira e Cruz de Aragão
• Grantee: Marcus Vinicius de Freitas Silveira
• Host Institution: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE). Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brasil). São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil
• Company: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Politécnica (EP)
• Associated research grant: 20/15230-5 - Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Innovation - RCG2I, AP.PCPE
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/05733-8 - Rainfall supplied from Amazon Forests to Brazil's croplands: where, how much, and the impact of deforestation, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Amazon forests play an important role in climate regulation through several mechanisms such as decreasing daytime land surface temperature, contributing to convective cloud and rainfall formation, and decreasing dry season severity and length. Extensive deforestation therefore can increase climate risk in Amazon croplands and even croplands in other regions whose rainfall partially depends on moisture provided by the Amazon. Observational evidence for these processes, however, are still incipient and lack a spatially-explicit approach. This research proposal aims to advance the scientific understanding of the nexus among Amazon forests, climate, and agriculture by investigating deforestation impacts on climate and the potential implications for agricultural production in a spatially-explicit observational approach. The research objectives are as follows: (O1) To assess the influence of deforestation on changes in surface temperature and rainfall parameters over the last decades across the Amazon at regional scales; (O2) To measure the exposure of Brazilian soybean and second-crop maize areas to climate change, in addition to the sensitivity of crop production in these areas to climate variability; (O3) To assess the influence of Amazon deforestation on rainfall regimes of soybean and second-crop maize production areas in Brazil. This study will make use of state-of-the-art climate products derived from direct satellite observations or reanalysis, in addition to land cover change maps and agricultural statistics. In O3, an atmospheric moisture tracking model will be used to assess the contribution of Amazon evapotranspiration to rainfall in Brazilian croplands. Findings from this study will be able to support decision-making in initiatives such as payment of ecosystem services, forest restoration projects, and development of climate-smart landscapes.

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)

DUTRA, DEBORA JOANA; SILVEIRA, MARCUS VINICIUS FREITAS; MATAVELI, GUILHERME; FERRO, POLIANA DOMINGOS; MAGALHAES, DEILA DA SILVA; DE MEDEIROS, THAIS PEREIRA; ANDERSON, LIANA OIGHENSTEIN; DE ARAGAO, LUIZ EDUARDO OLIVEIRA E CRUZ. Challenges for reducing carbon emissions from Land-Use and Land Cover Change in Brazil. PERSPECTIVES IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION, v. 22, n. 3, p. 6-pg., 2024-09-23. (22/11698-8, 20/16457-3, 20/15230-5, 21/04019-4, 19/25701-8, 23/03206-0, 20/08916-8)