Human Pressure on the Brazilian Amazon Forests

The analysis compiles a comprehensive set of geospatial indicators of human activities that lead to forest degradation and conversion.

Illustrated by numerous maps, the results provide valuable insights for land-use planning and zoning.

In 2002, approximately 47 percent of the Brazilian Amazon was under some type of human pressure, either as areas under pressure from human settlements (19 percent) or areas subjected to incipient human pressure (28 percent).

Areas under pressure from human settlement were found primarily along official roads in the so-called "arc of deforestation," comprising the eastern and southern edges of the forests in the states of Rondonia, Mato Grosso, and Para.

Other significant locations under human pressure were along the Trans-Amazon highway in the State of Para, along the Amazon River between Manaus and Belem, along the Cuiaba-Santarem highway near the city of Santarem, and around the main urban centers in the states of Roraima and Amapa.

Areas showing incipient human pressure were generally clustered and adjacent to areas of human settlements, indicating frontier expansion.

This was especially true in the states of Para, Mato Grosso, and Rondonia. There were, however, isolated areas of incipient human pressure along navigable rivers throughout the region.

Such areas appeared to be associated primarily with traditional mestizo communities and indigenous populations.