Sustainable Agricultural Practices for Rondnia, Brazil:

1
Sustainable Agricultural Practices for Rondônia,
Brazil

• An In-Depth Exploration of Deforestation

2
Global Total Forest Areas
Brazil
3
Amazonia

• The South American Amazon, the worlds largest
  tropically forested area, is hugely rich in
  biodiversity.
• One square kilometer 90,000 tons of living
  plants
• nearly 90 percent of all deforestation in
  tropical regions has taken place since 1970

4
Operation Amazonia

• Government settlement program
• Good intentions
• Amazonia empty frontier
• could be consolidated under Brazilian national
  sovereignty
• opportunity for millions of poor and landless
  people

5
Causes of Deforestation in the Amazon

• Small-scale, subsistence agriculture, 33
• Cattle ranches, 60

http//rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amazon_dest
ruction.html
6
The Brazilian Amazon

• 17.1 percent of forest area has been lost
• roughly 10 to 12 percent is estimated to be gone
  forever

7
Rondônia
Rondônia
Brazil
8
Rondônia

• The Brazilian state most affected by these
  deforestation trends is Rondônia
• Rondônia is currently attempting to reverse these
  deforestation trends through
• sustainable land use
• cutting edge agricultural techniques

9
Calculating Deforestation Rates

• develop detailed maps of the rate and
  geographical extent of deforestation in tropical
  rainforests and thus to document the location and
  expansion of deforestation over time
• Satellite remote sensors
• Agricultural census reports

10
Environmentally Safe Alternatives

• Swidden agriculture
• A shifting cultivation technique
• Agroforestry

http//earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Deforesta
tion/
11
Sustainability in Tropical Farming

• reducing environmental cost per unit of private
  benefit
• Eg. decreasing turnover or increasing farm income
  per hectare of deforested land
• increasing private costs of environmental
  destruction
• Eg. internalizing the social costs of
  deforestation
• decreasing the private cost of alternatives that
  would cause less environmental damage, such as
  alternative tropical farming technologies

12

• Amazon deforestation will only be curbed if
  sound economic policies reward farmers for
  staying where they are and reverse incentives to
  move on.

Sustainable Settlement in the Brazilian Amazon,
75
13
Extractive Reserve

• Local communities own/control the harvesting of
  forest product
• establishes a form of communal ownership that
  permits people to manage the forest without
  destroying it.
• but is it an economically sound alternative?

Deforestation and Land Use in the Amazon, 29
14
The Need For Incentives

• ...research in Rondonia suggests that the
  majority of Rondonias farmers would integrate
  agroforestry into their farms if certain
  impediments to doing so were alleviated. Income
  generation is an important variable in land use
  decisions...

Deforestation and Land Use in the Amazon, 221
15
Education and Overall Awareness

• The most significant variable determining the
  farmers probability of adopting sustainable
  agriculture is the farmers knowledge that
  sustainable agriculture exists.

Deforestation and Land Use in the Amazon, 221
16
In Conclusion

• Sustainable agriculture in Rondônia will require
  
• Incentives for implementing new agricultural
  technologies
• Education and awareness
• Governmental support i.e. less turnover of land
  and less development

17
Works Cited

• "Amazon Deforestation." World Wildlife Fund. 10
  Mar. 2006. World Wildlife Fund. 2 Apr. 2006
  .
• "Amazon Rainforest." Wikipedia the Free
  Encyclopedia. 1 Apr. 2006. Wikipedia
  Encyclopedia. 2 Apr. 2006 m.
• Carvalho, Georgia O., and Daniel Nepstad.
  "Frontier Expansion in the Amazon Balancing
  Developments and Sustainability." Environment 44
  (2002) 3. ProQuest. University of Michigan, Ann
  Arbor. 8 Mar. 2006. Keyword Agriculture and
  Brazil and Sustainability.
• Caviglia-Harris, Jill L. "Sustainable
  Agricultural Practices in Rondonia, Brazil Do
  Local Farmer Organizations Affect Adoption
  Rates?" Economic Development and Cultural Change
  52.1 (2003) 23. ProQuest. University of
  Michigan, Ann Arbor. 8 Mar. 2006. Keyword
  Brazil.
• Caviglia, Jill L., and James R. Kahn. "Diffusion
  of Sustainable Agriculture in the Brazilian
  Tropical Rain Forest A Discrete Choice
  Analysis." Economic Development and Cultural
  Change 49 (2001) 311-333. ProQuest. University
  of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 8 Mar. 2006. Keyword
  Agriculture and Brazil.
• Chomitz, Kenneth M., and Timothy S. Thomas.
  "Determinants of Land Use in Amazonia A Fine
  Scale Spatial Analysis." American Journal of
  Agricultural Economics 85 (2003) 1016-1029.
  University of Michigan Search Tools. University
  of Michigan. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 8
  Mar. 2006. Keyword Deforestation and Brazil.
• Eden, Michael J. Ecology and Land Management in
  Amazonia. London Belhaven P, 1990.
• Fearnside, Philip M. "Deforestation of Amazonia."
  Encyclopedia of Global Change Environmental
  Change and Human Society. Ed. Andrew S. Goudie. 2
  vols. Oxford Oxford UP, 2002.
• Hall, Anthony. Sustaining Amazonia Grassroots
  Action for Productive Conservation. Manchester
  Manchester UP, 1997.

18
Works Cited (continued)

• Jordan, Carl F., ed. Amazonian Rain Forests
  Ecosystem Disturbance and Recovery. New York
  Springer-Verlag, 1987.
• Oliver, Chadwick D., Melih Boydak, and Roger A.
  Sedjo. "Deforestation." Encyclopedia of Global
  Change Environmental Change and Human Society.
  Ed. Andrew S. Goudie. 2 vols. Oxford Oxford UP,
  2002.
• Ozorio De Almeida, Anna L., and Joao S. Campari.
  Sustainble Settlement in the Brazilian Amazon.
  New York Oxford UP Inc., 1995.
• Perz, Stephen G. "Are Agricultural Production and
  Forest Conservation Compatible? Agricultural
  Diversity, Agricultural Incomes, and Primary
  Forest Cover Among Small Farm Colonists in the
  Amazon." World Development 32 (2004) 957-977.
  ProQuest. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 8
  Mar. 2006. Keyword Agriculture and Brazil.
• Perz, Stephen G. "Social Determinants and Land
  Use Correlates of Agricultural Technology
  Adoption in a Forest Frontier A Case Study in
  the Brazilian Amazon." Human Ecology 31.1 (2003)
  133-151. ProQuest. University of Michigan, Ann
  Arbor. 8 Mar. 2006. Keyword Agriculture and
  Brazil.
• Robock, Stefan H. Brazil A Study and Development
  Progress. Lexington Lexington Books, 1975.
• Skolie, D L., W H. Chomentowski, W A. Salas, and
  A D. Nobre. "Phsyical and Human Dimensions of
  Deforestation in Amazonia." Bioscience 44.5
  (1994) 314-323. ProQuest. University of
  Michigan, Ann Arbor. 8 Mar. 2006. Keyword
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• "The Economy Booms, the Trees Vanish Growing
  Deforestation in Amazon, Brazil and Government
  Policies for Sustinable Forestry." Global Agenda
  (2005). University of Michigan Search Tools.
  University of Michigan. University of Michigan,
  Ann Arbor. 8 Mar. 2006. Keyword Deforestation
  and Brazil.
• Wood, Charles H., and Roberto Porro, eds.
  Deforesation and Land Use in the Amazon.
  Gainesville University P of Florida, 2002.