Deforestation in Brazil

Deforestation in Brazil is the clearing or degradation of native forests, driven by land conversion, logging, infrastructure, and fires. Its largest frontier has been the Amazon, though other biomes are also affected.

Cattle ranching in Brazil: Cattle production is a major agricultural activity in Brazil, with pasture occupying extensive areas. Pasture expansion has been a leading direct cause of forest clearing in the Brazilian Amazon.
Amazon deforestation: The clearing and degradation of forest in the Amazon biome. The Amazon has accounted for the largest share of Brazil’s forest loss in recent decades.
Amazon rainforest: The world’s largest tropical rainforest, spanning much of the Amazon Basin in South America. Brazil contains most of the Amazon rainforest, making its land-use choices consequential for the whole biome.
PRODES: Brazil’s satellite-based program for monitoring annual clear-cut deforestation in the Legal Amazon. Its mapped annual estimates are the benchmark for tracking Amazon clear-cutting, but omit some degradation.
Soybean production in Brazil: Brazil is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of soybeans. Soy expansion can replace forest directly or displace pasture into forest frontiers.
Cerrado deforestation: The conversion of native vegetation in Brazil’s tropical savanna biome. The Cerrado is a major agricultural frontier whose native vegetation loss is not always counted as forest loss.
Amazon tipping point: A proposed threshold beyond which parts of the Amazon could shift toward drier, more open ecosystems. Deforestation and warming may weaken rainfall recycling and increase the risk of large-scale ecological change.
DETER: Brazil’s near-real-time satellite alert system for detecting suspected deforestation in the Legal Amazon. Its rapid alerts support enforcement but are not directly interchangeable with PRODES annual totals.
Slash-and-burn agriculture: A farming method that clears vegetation by cutting and burning it before cultivation. Burning is used to clear land and can escape into surrounding forest during dry periods.
Arc of Deforestation: A crescent-shaped frontier of land conversion along the southern and eastern Amazon. This frontier concentrates roads, pasture expansion, logging, and agricultural settlement.

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