@Article{MartiniMorAraForDal:2015:PoLaAv,
               author = "Martini, Denise Zanata and Moreira, Mauricio Alves and 
                         Arag{\~a}o, Luiz Eduardo Oliveira e Cruz de and Formaggio, 
                         Ant{\^o}nio Roberto and Dalla-Nora, Eloi Lennon",
          affiliation = "{Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto 
                         Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto Nacional de 
                         Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas 
                         Espaciais (INPE)} and {Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais 
                         (INPE)}",
                title = "Potential land availability for agricultural expansion in the 
                         Brazilian Amazon",
              journal = "Land Use Policy",
                 year = "2015",
               volume = "49",
                pages = "35--42",
             keywords = "Brazilian Amazon, Agricultural expansion, Sustainable development, 
                         Deforestation, Biomass.",
             abstract = "The Amazon hosts one of the largest stocks of arable land in the 
                         world. However, little is known about the available extent of 
                         agricultural land in conformity with legal, agronomical and 
                         environmental requirements. This study aims to identify and 
                         quantify potentially available areas for agricultural expansion in 
                         the Brazilian Amazon considering the extent of: (i) legally 
                         available forested lands, (ii) previously converted lands with 
                         suitable productive capacity and (iii) previously converted lands 
                         free of land use conflicts. This analysis was carried out by 
                         integrating georeferenced information on land use, soil fertility, 
                         terrain slope, biomass, protected areas and land use policies 
                         (e.g. Brazilian Forest Code) into a conditional decision support 
                         procedure, based on Boolean inference techniques. Our results 
                         showed that 11.69% (493,103.03 km2) of the Brazilian Amazon would 
                         be potentially available for agricultural expansion in the year 
                         2010. This area was essentially dominated by forests (59.37%), 
                         followed by previously converted lands (40.63%). The extent of 
                         this area was equivalent to 75.86% of the total cultivated area in 
                         Brazil in 2010. However, the effective usage of these areas would 
                         have direct political and environmental implications. First, it is 
                         expected that the effective usage of available forests would 
                         detract recent achievements of the Brazilian Action Plan for 
                         Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon, which has 
                         reduced deforestation by 79% from historical rates. Moreover, the 
                         conversion of these areas could result in a committed emission of 
                         13 ± 1 Pg CO2eq to the atmosphere which is equivalent to the total 
                         emissions from land cover change registered in Brazil during the 
                         20002010 period. Therefore, the compensation of environmental 
                         liabilities stands as the most consistent destination for the 
                         available forests mapped in this study. To minimize environmental 
                         impacts, agricultural expansion in the Brazilian Amazon should be 
                         restricted to already converted areas. This land cover class 
                         totalizes 200,000 km2, which could support agricultural expansion 
                         without promoting the advance of deforestation.",
                  doi = "10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.07.005",
                  url = "http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.07.005",
                 issn = "0264-8377 and 1873-5754",
             language = "en",
        urlaccessdate = "27 abr. 2024"
}