Monday, September 23, 2019. 30/08/2019

Brazil has lost 89 million hectares of natural vegetation in the last 34 years. Data on changes in land cover and land use in the country are part of a historical series analyzed by the MapBiomas project; the Amazon alone lost 47 million hectares in the period.

São Paulo, August 2019 - Between 1985 and 2018, Brazil lost 89 million hectares of natural vegetation, an area equivalent to almost the entire state of Mato Grosso, the third largest in the country. These data make up Collection 4.0 of the MapBiomas project and were presented on Thursday (29/08) in Brasilia, during the 4th Annual MapBiomas Seminar - Losses and Gains from Changes in Land Cover and Land Use in Brazil. The historical series collected by Collection 4.0 covers a period of 34 years with annual data on land cover and use, deforestation and regeneration in Brazilian biomes.

Of the 89 million hectares lost in this period, 82 million hectares are natural forests and another 7 million hectares are non-forest natural vegetation. In the specific case of the Amazon, the loss was 47 million hectares in 34 years, more than half of the total recorded in Brazil. Agriculture increased from 174 million hectares to 260 million hectares, an increase of 86 million hectares.

Table: Changes in Land Cover and Land Use Area between 1985 and 2018 

In 1985, natural forests and native vegetation accounted for 77% of all land cover and land use in the country, with a further 20% occupied by agriculture, 1% of non-vegetated areas and 2% of water. The 2018 figures indicate that there are 66% of natural forests and native vegetation in the territory, 31% of areas destined for agriculture, 1% of non-vegetated areas and 2% of water. 

According to the general coordinator of MapBiomas, Tasso Azevedo, the data presented by the monitoring platform helps to understand the evolution of land occupation and the impacts on Brazil's biomes, and is an important tool for guiding public managers in the development and application of public policies for the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. He points out that the impact of deforestation, which is on the rise, is worrying because of factors that complement each other and directly affect the climate in Brazil and on the planet.

"Deforestation combined with burning generates greater emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and, at the same time, reduces the capacity for the phenomenon known as carbon sequestration, which is fundamental for reducing the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere, without which it will not be possible to limit global warming to below 2°C," says the researcher. "Today, more than half of Brazil's carbon dioxide emissions come from deforestation," he adds.
The data presented by Collection 4. 0 MapBiomas brings annual maps of land cover and land use in Brazil with a resolution of 30 meters (each pixel represents an area of 30 meters x 30 meters); statistics of land cover and land use and territorial cut-outs of biomes, states, municipalities, indigenous lands, conservation units, transport and energy infrastructure and river basins; map modules and statistics of deforestation/suppression and recovery of forests and native vegetation in all the country's biomes; as well as infographics and a wall map of Brazil and each biome.
The tool is public and free and can be accessed at http://mapbiomas.org/

The MapBiomas Annual Seminar - Losses and Gains from Land Cover and Land Use Change in Brazil will also feature panels on new technologies for monitoring land cover and land use and applications of MapBiomas data. The 2nd edition of the MapBiomas Award will also be launched.