Platform shows the evolution of land cover and land use in the 1,422,742 km² occupied by the biome - 37% of which is covered by native vegetation

April 15, 2021 - Researchers from Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay have produced the most complete series of annual land cover and land use maps ever produced for the Atlantic Forest. They concluded that the biome had a net loss of native vegetation of 5% in 20 years. Between 2000 and 2019, this area decreased from 554,632 km² to 527,492 km². 

Native vegetation now covers 37% of the biome's area and there is a high level of secondary vegetation and many fragmented areas, highlighting the urgency and importance of conserving and restoring the biome.

The country with the greatest proportional loss of native vegetation was Paraguay, with 10,090 km² (19.2% of the area existing in 2000), mainly due to the expansion of agricultural and grazing areas.

In Argentina, the total loss of native vegetation was approximately 2,106 km² (11% of the area in 2000), falling from 19,213 km² in 2000 to 17,107 km², mainly due to the growth in the area of forest plantations.

In Brazil, there was a loss of native vegetation of 14,943 km², from 482,772 km² to 467,829 km². This was the smallest percentage drop in relation to the total area in 2000: 3.1%.

Of the total loss of native vegetation, 67% corresponds to loss of forest cover and 33% of non-forest native vegetation.

In terms of farming activities, agriculture grew by 67%, from 155,437.86 km² to 260,101.2 km². And the area of pasture fell by 23%, from 471,871.64 km² to 362,827.31 km², which indicates an intensification of land use and conversion of pasture areas to agriculture. Another activity that grew a lot was forestry, which more than doubled in area over the last two decades, from 20,928.24 km² to 48,230.09 km² between 2000 and 2019.

With a resolution of 30 by 30 meters and 12 classes in the legend, the MapBiomas Atlantic Forest Collection 1 (2000-2019) covers the 1,422,742 km² of the biome that occupies 8% of South America. The platform can be accessed at bosqueatlantico.mapbiomas.org.

Highlights:

- the Atlantic Forest occupies 8% (1.422.742 km²) of South America;

– 92% of the Atlantic Forest is in the Brazil ( 1.309.579,72 km²), 6% in Paraguay (86.071,62 km²), and 2% in the Argentina (27.090,57 km²).  

– net loss of natural vegetation between 2000 and 2019: 27.139,2 km²;

- the agricultural sector remained stable, with a drop of 0,9% (from 800,399.35 km² to 793,212.96 km²).

- the Forest Plantation (included as planted forest, in the forest class) more than doubled: from 20.945,05 km² to 48.287,53 km² (130.5% increase)

- the agricultural area grew by 67%, from 155,437.86 to 260,101.2 km²

MapBiomas Trinational Atlantic Forest

MapBiomas Trinational Atlantic Forest is an initiative involving a collaborative network of experts from Argentina (Instituto de Biología Subtropical de CONICET, Facultad de Agronomía de la UBA, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, UNAM, Estación Experimental INTA Corrientes and NGO Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina), Brazil (ArcPlan and SOS Mata Atlântica) and Paraguay (NGO WWF Paraguay). The project uses Landsat satellite images (30 x 30 meter resolution) and cloud computing through the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to produce annual maps of land cover and use with high technology and low cost. The initiative is part of the MapBiomas Network, which began in 2015 with MapBiomas Brasil (mapbiomas.org.).

PRESS

BRAZIL
MapBiomas
Liuca Yonaha
imprensa@mapbiomas.org
+55 (11) 94186-4029

SOS Mata Atlântica
Afra Balazina
afra@sosma.org.br
+55 (11) 99956-7337 

ARGENTINA
Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina
emiliano.salvador@vidasilvestre.org.ar
+54 9 3757 56-3235

PARAGUAY
WWF – Paraguay
Gisell Jiménez
gjimenez@wwf.org.py
+595 21 213 146