Protecting forests at the expense of native grasslands: Land-use policy encourages open-habitat loss in the Brazilian cerrado biome
The agricultural conversion of natural habitats is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. In the ∼2 million km2 Brazilian cerrado biome, a global biodiversity hotspot, vast areas have been converted into croplands and cattle pastures. Because the cerrado biome is overwhelmingly cont...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2530064418301135 |
| _version_ | 1818664430645280768 |
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| author | Juliana Bonanomi Fernando R. Tortato Raphael de Souza R. Gomes Jerry M. Penha Anderson Saldanha Bueno Carlos A. Peres |
| author_facet | Juliana Bonanomi Fernando R. Tortato Raphael de Souza R. Gomes Jerry M. Penha Anderson Saldanha Bueno Carlos A. Peres |
| author_sort | Juliana Bonanomi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The agricultural conversion of natural habitats is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. In the ∼2 million km2 Brazilian cerrado biome, a global biodiversity hotspot, vast areas have been converted into croplands and cattle pastures. Because the cerrado biome is overwhelmingly contained within private lands, Brazil's environmental legislation should serve as a decisive instrument in protecting these natural ecosystems. We assessed the role of Legal Reserves (LRs), legally defined as the minimum proportion of private landholdings set aside to protect natural vegetation, in the conservation of the cerrado biome. We assume that the property-scale allocation of LRs is primarily based on economic decision-making, creating a bias against cerrado protection. We therefore assessed the area ratio between forest vegetation (FV) and grassland vegetation (GV) areas across LRs within 48,762 landholdings, 9 formal protected areas (PAs) and 34 Indigenous Lands (ILs) within the cerrado (sensu lato) of the 903,357-km2 state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. We show that there are 7.26 ha of forest lands for each hectare of native grasslands within private RLs of the cerrado biome within Mato Grosso, a ratio almost three-fold larger than that found in formal PAs and ILs. ILs protect in absolute values (hectares) six-fold more native grassland vegetation than PAs. We discuss the policy relevance of this severe land-use bias in maintaining the heterogeneity of cerrado habitats for biodiversity conservation within private properties, which account for 90% of the entire cerrado biome. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T05:32:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a963b14386b74db890173384aa70a509 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2530-0644 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T05:32:37Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation |
| spelling | doaj.art-a963b14386b74db890173384aa70a5092022-12-21T22:01:41ZengElsevierPerspectives in Ecology and Conservation2530-06442019-01-011712631Protecting forests at the expense of native grasslands: Land-use policy encourages open-habitat loss in the Brazilian cerrado biomeJuliana Bonanomi0Fernando R. Tortato1Raphael de Souza R. Gomes2Jerry M. Penha3Anderson Saldanha Bueno4Carlos A. Peres5Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade – Departamento de Ecologia e Botânica, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil; Instituto Conservação Brasil, Chapada dos Guimarães, MT, Brazil; Corresponding author at: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade – Departamento de Ecologia e Botânica, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil.Instituto Conservação Brasil, Chapada dos Guimarães, MT, Brazil; Panthera, 8 West 40th Street, 18th Floor, New York, USADepartamento de Ciências da Computação – Universidade Federal de MT, BrazilPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade – Departamento de Ecologia e Botânica, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT, BrazilInstituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Farroupilha, Júlio de Castilhos, RS, Brazil; Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UKCentre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UKThe agricultural conversion of natural habitats is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide. In the ∼2 million km2 Brazilian cerrado biome, a global biodiversity hotspot, vast areas have been converted into croplands and cattle pastures. Because the cerrado biome is overwhelmingly contained within private lands, Brazil's environmental legislation should serve as a decisive instrument in protecting these natural ecosystems. We assessed the role of Legal Reserves (LRs), legally defined as the minimum proportion of private landholdings set aside to protect natural vegetation, in the conservation of the cerrado biome. We assume that the property-scale allocation of LRs is primarily based on economic decision-making, creating a bias against cerrado protection. We therefore assessed the area ratio between forest vegetation (FV) and grassland vegetation (GV) areas across LRs within 48,762 landholdings, 9 formal protected areas (PAs) and 34 Indigenous Lands (ILs) within the cerrado (sensu lato) of the 903,357-km2 state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. We show that there are 7.26 ha of forest lands for each hectare of native grasslands within private RLs of the cerrado biome within Mato Grosso, a ratio almost three-fold larger than that found in formal PAs and ILs. ILs protect in absolute values (hectares) six-fold more native grassland vegetation than PAs. We discuss the policy relevance of this severe land-use bias in maintaining the heterogeneity of cerrado habitats for biodiversity conservation within private properties, which account for 90% of the entire cerrado biome.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2530064418301135Agricultural expansionHabitat homogenizationLand-use policyEnvironmental legislationSavannaNeotropics |
| spellingShingle | Juliana Bonanomi Fernando R. Tortato Raphael de Souza R. Gomes Jerry M. Penha Anderson Saldanha Bueno Carlos A. Peres Protecting forests at the expense of native grasslands: Land-use policy encourages open-habitat loss in the Brazilian cerrado biome Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation Agricultural expansion Habitat homogenization Land-use policy Environmental legislation Savanna Neotropics |
| title | Protecting forests at the expense of native grasslands: Land-use policy encourages open-habitat loss in the Brazilian cerrado biome |
| title_full | Protecting forests at the expense of native grasslands: Land-use policy encourages open-habitat loss in the Brazilian cerrado biome |
| title_fullStr | Protecting forests at the expense of native grasslands: Land-use policy encourages open-habitat loss in the Brazilian cerrado biome |
| title_full_unstemmed | Protecting forests at the expense of native grasslands: Land-use policy encourages open-habitat loss in the Brazilian cerrado biome |
| title_short | Protecting forests at the expense of native grasslands: Land-use policy encourages open-habitat loss in the Brazilian cerrado biome |
| title_sort | protecting forests at the expense of native grasslands land use policy encourages open habitat loss in the brazilian cerrado biome |
| topic | Agricultural expansion Habitat homogenization Land-use policy Environmental legislation Savanna Neotropics |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2530064418301135 |
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