Effects of land use and forest management on the carbon cycle in the brazilian amazon

Abstract

Deforestation in the Brazilian Legal Amazon releases substantial amounts of greenhouse gases. Net committed emissions (the long-term result of emissions and uptakes in a given area that is cleared) totaled 267-278 million t of CO2-equivalent carbon in 1990 (under low and high trace gas scenarios), while the corresponding annual balance of net emissions (the balance in a single year over the entire region, including areas cleared in previous years) in 1990 was 354-358 million t from deforestation plus 62 t from logging. These figures contrast sharply with official pronouncements that claim little or even no net emission from Amazonia. Most emissions are caused by medium and large ranchers (despite recent official statements to the contrary), a fact which means that deforestation could be greatly slowed without preventing subsistence clearing by small farmers. The substantial monetary and non-monetary benefits that avoiding this impact would have provide a rational for making the supply of environmental services a long-term objective in reorienting development in Amazonia. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.