Studies gauge forest impact of settlements

Brazil

New research suggests that government-authorized agrarian settlements in the Brazilian Amazon account for a growing share of that region’s deforestation, a conclusion sure to fuel longstanding debate here about whether Brazil can successfully balance land reform and forest conservation. The most comprehensive of two studies on the subject is scheduled for formal release in February by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), a respected Brazilian nonprofit. It shows that deforestation associated with such settlements, which in the Brazilian Amazon number 3,589, has generally followed the downward trend of forest clearing in the region in recent years. Overall, the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon slowed by 80% in a 12-year period ending in mid-2014. But the study finds that agrarian settlements... [Log in to read more]

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