Current policies are insufficient to protect or restore Brazil’s cost-effective conservation priority zones
In Brazil, conservation priority zones, in spite of their key role in preserving natural vegetation and its environmental resources are frequently located outside the country’s public network of protected areas (PAs). Here we present the first study on land-use impacts inside Brazil’s unprotected (i...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
|
| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd209 |
| _version_ | 1827869808156213248 |
|---|---|
| author | Rafael G Ramos Marluce Scarabello Aline C Soterroni Pedro R Andrade Rolf Simões Heloisa M Ruivo Florian Kraxner Fernando M Ramos |
| author_facet | Rafael G Ramos Marluce Scarabello Aline C Soterroni Pedro R Andrade Rolf Simões Heloisa M Ruivo Florian Kraxner Fernando M Ramos |
| author_sort | Rafael G Ramos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In Brazil, conservation priority zones, in spite of their key role in preserving natural vegetation and its environmental resources are frequently located outside the country’s public network of protected areas (PAs). Here we present the first study on land-use impacts inside Brazil’s unprotected (i.e. outside PAs) Cost-Effective conservation priority Zones (CEZs), for the period 2020–2050. CEZs are conservation priority zones that had experienced low levels of human impact in 2020. In this study, we consider various governance scenarios, including different deforestation control and native vegetation restoration policies. To this end, a land-use change model is combined with a downscaling method to generate natural vegetation cover projections at a 0.01 ${^\circ}$ resolution. Results, which include the effects of climate change on the expansion of the Brazilian agriculture, project native vegetation losses (through deforestation) or gains (through restoration) inside unprotected CEZs. If the current pattern of disregard for the environment persists, our results indicate that a large share of the native vegetation inside Brazil’s CEZs is likely to disappear, with negative impacts on biodiversity preservation, green-house gas emissions and ecosystem services in general. Moreover, even if fully implemented and enforced, Brazil’s current Forest Code is insufficient to adequately protect CEZs from anthropization, especially in the Cerrado biome. We expect that this study can help improving the conservation and restoration of CEZs in Brazil. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:50:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dfc4a001d75d45619e40d7c41cbdf4ad |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:50:19Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-dfc4a001d75d45619e40d7c41cbdf4ad2023-08-09T15:16:38ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262023-01-0118606500610.1088/1748-9326/acd209Current policies are insufficient to protect or restore Brazil’s cost-effective conservation priority zonesRafael G Ramos0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9307-5922Marluce Scarabello1Aline C Soterroni2Pedro R Andrade3Rolf Simões4Heloisa M Ruivo5Florian Kraxner6Fernando M Ramos7National Institute for Space Research , São José dos Campos, BrazilNational Institute for Space Research , São José dos Campos, BrazilInternational Institute for Applied System Analysis , Laxenburg, Austria; Department of Biology, University of Oxford , Oxford, United KingdomNational Institute for Space Research , São José dos Campos, BrazilNational Institute for Space Research , São José dos Campos, BrazilNational Institute for Space Research , São José dos Campos, BrazilInternational Institute for Applied System Analysis , Laxenburg, AustriaNational Institute for Space Research , São José dos Campos, BrazilIn Brazil, conservation priority zones, in spite of their key role in preserving natural vegetation and its environmental resources are frequently located outside the country’s public network of protected areas (PAs). Here we present the first study on land-use impacts inside Brazil’s unprotected (i.e. outside PAs) Cost-Effective conservation priority Zones (CEZs), for the period 2020–2050. CEZs are conservation priority zones that had experienced low levels of human impact in 2020. In this study, we consider various governance scenarios, including different deforestation control and native vegetation restoration policies. To this end, a land-use change model is combined with a downscaling method to generate natural vegetation cover projections at a 0.01 ${^\circ}$ resolution. Results, which include the effects of climate change on the expansion of the Brazilian agriculture, project native vegetation losses (through deforestation) or gains (through restoration) inside unprotected CEZs. If the current pattern of disregard for the environment persists, our results indicate that a large share of the native vegetation inside Brazil’s CEZs is likely to disappear, with negative impacts on biodiversity preservation, green-house gas emissions and ecosystem services in general. Moreover, even if fully implemented and enforced, Brazil’s current Forest Code is insufficient to adequately protect CEZs from anthropization, especially in the Cerrado biome. We expect that this study can help improving the conservation and restoration of CEZs in Brazil.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd209deforestationrestorationbiodiversityconservationBrazilpolicy analysis |
| spellingShingle | Rafael G Ramos Marluce Scarabello Aline C Soterroni Pedro R Andrade Rolf Simões Heloisa M Ruivo Florian Kraxner Fernando M Ramos Current policies are insufficient to protect or restore Brazil’s cost-effective conservation priority zones Environmental Research Letters deforestation restoration biodiversity conservation Brazil policy analysis |
| title | Current policies are insufficient to protect or restore Brazil’s cost-effective conservation priority zones |
| title_full | Current policies are insufficient to protect or restore Brazil’s cost-effective conservation priority zones |
| title_fullStr | Current policies are insufficient to protect or restore Brazil’s cost-effective conservation priority zones |
| title_full_unstemmed | Current policies are insufficient to protect or restore Brazil’s cost-effective conservation priority zones |
| title_short | Current policies are insufficient to protect or restore Brazil’s cost-effective conservation priority zones |
| title_sort | current policies are insufficient to protect or restore brazil s cost effective conservation priority zones |
| topic | deforestation restoration biodiversity conservation Brazil policy analysis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd209 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rafaelgramos currentpoliciesareinsufficienttoprotectorrestorebrazilscosteffectiveconservationpriorityzones AT marlucescarabello currentpoliciesareinsufficienttoprotectorrestorebrazilscosteffectiveconservationpriorityzones AT alinecsoterroni currentpoliciesareinsufficienttoprotectorrestorebrazilscosteffectiveconservationpriorityzones AT pedrorandrade currentpoliciesareinsufficienttoprotectorrestorebrazilscosteffectiveconservationpriorityzones AT rolfsimoes currentpoliciesareinsufficienttoprotectorrestorebrazilscosteffectiveconservationpriorityzones AT heloisamruivo currentpoliciesareinsufficienttoprotectorrestorebrazilscosteffectiveconservationpriorityzones AT floriankraxner currentpoliciesareinsufficienttoprotectorrestorebrazilscosteffectiveconservationpriorityzones AT fernandomramos currentpoliciesareinsufficienttoprotectorrestorebrazilscosteffectiveconservationpriorityzones |