Brazil data - Deforestation and Land Use

Key facts

  • The annual deforestation rates in the Cerrado and Amazon biomes show similar total values since 2008. However, if considered the total area and the amount of natural vegetation that still exists in the biome, deforestation in the Cerrado can be considered up to 4 times higher than in Amazon;
  • Deforestation rates in the Legal Amazon region have suffered drastic reductions since their peak in 2003 and 2004, however, the deforestation returned to rising after 2012;
  • Much of the deforestation control observed after 2004 has been attributed to the PPCDAm program with the objective of controlling and preventing deforestation. In addition, private mechanisms, such as soy moratorium implemented in 2006, may have contributed to part of this reduction;
  • The Cerrado also has a program to control and prevent deforestation, PPCerrado, now in its second phase. This program was responsible to create the TerraClass Cerrado, an initiative to map the land cover and land use types in the Cerrado biome;
  • The uncertainties around the annual budget and the continuity of programs like PPCDAm and PPCerrado threaten government initiatives, like TerraClass. This reinforces the importance of nongovernmental initiatives such as MapBiomas;
  • Deforestation alerts in the Legal Amazon region have been receiving great media attention given the strong increase in the number and area reported by the DETER monitoring system. However, it is important to keep in mind that alerts are surveillance instruments for law enforcement and their increase may, so far, only pointed out an expectation of increase in deforestation next year (2018/2019), officially measured by Prodes;
  • Pasture areas in Amazon biome have maintained constant rates over recent years, which does not necessarily indicate a decrease in deforestation, but a potential massive replace of pasture areas created before 2008 for soybean plantations, mainly driven by the soy moratorium;
  • In the Cerrado biome, the new soybean expansion frontiers are concentrated in the states of Tocantins, Piaui and Maranhao, three of the four states part of the Matopiba region (broadly known as the last Brazilian agricultural frontier). These states had their soybean areas mostly created after 2007. Much of this soy implementation takes place directly over native vegetation.

Deforestation by biome (MapBiomas)

Data source: MapBiomas - Beta version http://mapbiomas.org/
Time period: 1990 to 2017
About the data: Deforestation data for all Brazilian biomes mapped by the MapBiomas team. The current collection remains in beta version and it is not yet available for download as a map, according to MapBiomas “any use of this data should consider the limitations of a work under construction”, however, it’s already possible to check the values by year with different extents (e.g.: biomes, municipalities, and states). Even though the cover collection from MapBiomas presents the data from 1985 to 2018 a set of temporal filters was applied to ensure a better quality of the collection, results in the cut of the extremes years. This is the first standardized map of deforestation for the entire Brazilian country.

Biome 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
AMAZON 14278 19394 22381 19056 22513 26175 24489 23463 22219 22346 20167 17005 22956 31484 27266 23864 21214 18748 15659 13374 10145 9961 9816 10725 10839 10985 13547 8326
CERRADO 27522 26903 28483 22684 22898 22992 19648 19037 16990 16168 16500 12510 13944 15848 18305 13016 10601 9406 15512 9312 7564 8865 10385 11167 9981 8660 8043 6951
PAMPA 2386 2045 1745 1575 1594 1421 1695 1599 1447 1106 992 1250 1123 1531 1724 758 774 534 1038 685 906 1111 1017 1135 882 717 332 232
PANTANAL 579 627 640 559 646 675 541 454 685 716 579 612 725 767 754 576 438 410 534 644 506 382 487 365 443 630 1036 714
CAATINGA 9643 8468 8611 6738 6675 5397 5002 5045 4670 3830 3537 2531 3538 3755 4262 3810 4004 3252 3897 3431 3078 3243 2940 2745 2394 2137 2626 1859
ATLANTICFOREST 3860 3907 2722 3135 3022 2444 2609 2421 2017 1977 1511 1290 1548 1923 1950 1735 1733 1435 1941 1578 1675 1471 1408 1573 1335 1268 1779 1240
TOTAL 58268 61344 64582 53747 57348 59104 53984 52019 48028 46143 43286 35198 43834 55308 54261 43759 38764 33785 38581 29024 23874 25033 26053 27710 25874 24397 27363 19322

*table values represents the area in km2

Amazon deforestation (Prodes)

Data source: Prodes - Inpe http://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br/
Time period: 2008 to 2018
About the data: Annual deforestation rates in the Amazon Biome - Prodes is also available from 2000 to 2018 for the Legal Amazon extent - which includes some parts of the Cerrado and Pantanal Biome.

States 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
ACRE 289 162 265 296 270 200 348 223 365 246 461
AMAPÁ 100 47 71 17 19 24 29 19 12 17 24
AMAZONAS 612 344 545 507 471 480 551 685 1002 1009 1062
MARANHÃO 732 454 246 174 117 159 139 111 129 150 93
MATO GROSSO 3112 720 681 919 704 1000 1012 1366 1313 1273 1363
PARÁ 5637 3558 3317 2510 1698 2098 1794 2282 2746 2564 2669
RONDÔNIA 1085 425 431 764 692 962 761 960 1193 1278 1225
RORAIMA 665 111 235 130 107 148 189 153 227 122 129
TOCANTINS 56 23 29 12 10 18 12 16 18 13 6
TOTAL 12288 5844 5820 5329 4088 5089 4835 5815 7005 6672 7032

*table values represents the area in km2

Cerrado deforestation (Prodes)

Data source: Prodes - Inpe http://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br
Time period: 2000 to 2018
About the data: Annual/Biennial deforestation rates in the Cerrado Biome - Data are bianually from 2000 to 2012 and annually after this period. The annual representation of the bianually period is a result of the total deforestation divided by two.
* PARÁ and RONDÔNIA states were removed due to their low values, this is explained by the small portion of the states in the biome

States 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
BAHIA 2285 2285 2700 2700 1800 1800 2010 2010 1209 1209 1524 1524 1562 1079 1335 782 783 697
DISTRITO FEDERAL 13 13 82 82 27 27 10 10 12 12 6 6 11 20 5 3 5 8
GOIÁS 6621 6621 6173 6173 2460 2460 1504 1504 1460 1460 973 973 1502 1182 1218 647 842 713
MARANHÃO 2304 2304 2846 2846 2376 2376 2833 2833 1694 1694 1432 1432 1591 1834 1656 1229 1481 1470
MATO GROSSO 5317 5317 6630 6630 2732 2732 1989 1989 1000 1000 1033 1033 1757 1010 1695 1165 1104 988
MATO GROSSO DO SUL 2829 2829 2349 2349 1581 1581 789 789 517 517 394 394 495 278 625 342 285 258
MINAS GERAIS 6458 6458 4729 4729 2791 2791 2152 2152 1357 1357 1472 1472 1953 1948 1198 329 512 471
PARANÁ 29 29 16 16 26 26 3 3 21 21 2 2 3 8 7 3 2 1
PIAUÍ 480 480 1119 1119 976 976 638 638 832 832 939 939 1326 1172 847 701 599 483
SÃO PAULO 183 183 210 210 214 214 56 56 72 72 24 24 43 50 25 3 4 15
TOCANTINS 2904 2904 3079 3079 2629 2629 1798 1798 1820 1820 1741 1741 2817 2243 3063 1587 1693 1530
TOTAL 29423 29423 29933 29933 17612 17612 13782 13782 9994 9994 9540 9540 13060 10824 11674 6791 7310 6634

*table values represents the area in km2

Atlantic Forest deforestation (MapBiomas)

Biome 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
ATLANTICFOREST 3860 3907 2722 3135 3022 2444 2609 2421 2017 1977 1511 1290 1548 1923 1950 1735 1733 1435 1941 1578 1675 1471 1408 1573 1335 1268 1779 1240

*table values represents the area in km2

Pantanal deforestation (MapBiomas)

Biome 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
PANTANAL 579 627 640 559 646 675 541 454 685 716 579 612 725 767 754 576 438 410 534 644 506 382 487 365 443 630 1036 714

*table values represents the area in km2

Caatinga deforestation (MapBiomas)

Biome 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
CAATINGA 9643 8468 8611 6738 6675 5397 5002 5045 4670 3830 3537 2531 3538 3755 4262 3810 4004 3252 3897 3431 3078 3243 2940 2745 2394 2137 2626 1859

*table values represents the area in km2

Pampa deforestation (MapBiomas)

Biome 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
PAMPA 2386 2045 1745 1575 1594 1421 1695 1599 1447 1106 992 1250 1123 1531 1724 758 774 534 1038 685 906 1111 1017 1135 882 717 332 232

*table values represents the area in km2

Deforestation Alerts - DETER

Data source: Deter - INPE http://terrabrasilis.dpi.inpe.br/
Time period: Legal Amazon - 2016 to 2019
Cerrado - 2018 to 2019
About the data: According to INPE, DETER is an Alert system developed to support law enforcement. Information on areas should not be understood as a monthly deforestation rate. The official INPE number to measure the annual rate of clearcut deforestation in the Brazilian Legal Amazon has been provided since 1988 by the PRODES. A comparison between the percentual increase in months with a low number of reports and a high cloud cover should be avoided. In the graph below the Amazon was restricted to the same date extent of Cerrado. In a longer time series for Legal Amazon, however, it’s important to consider the different satellites used during the existence of the initiative. The satellite sensor has major implications in the final number.

Pasture and Soy area

Pasture area

Data source: Lapig - UFG https://pastagem.org/atlas
Time period: 1985 to 2018 About the data: The Atlas of Brazilian Pasture describes the historical dynamic of the pasture cover in Brazil, from 1985 to 2018. The institution responsible for this mapping is the same in the MapBiomas project, but the data could be different in some biomes due to integration rules applied in the MapBiomas initiative. The platform offers additional information about the size of the cattle herd and the area of degraded pasture, among others.

Biome 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Amazon 89672 89448 105648 121581 132897 139328 145457 156405 170242 190002 212414 230434 247308 264784 283687 305079 319509 338644 359746 377689 394089 412035 424390 435250 441330 445518 443864 442219 441524 443269 444887 450723 452320 457300
Atlantic Forest 438118 437915 443900 450002 453229 455166 457807 457342 455754 452337 448640 445234 442477 440925 440777 441168 436800 430535 420182 412282 402908 395246 384989 377076 371664 366944 361772 358374 353112 348626 346632 345173 343878 343080
Caatinga 139318 138479 143511 149673 152542 158225 165454 172710 176151 178243 177261 178176 181504 187510 193366 198154 198558 200307 201018 201733 203501 205130 206189 208062 205373 209090 212052 218227 224113 233371 232407 232551 234345 234315
Cerrado 393717 396654 421661 443830 461123 475413 485917 496941 507152 516502 526952 534621 540620 546536 552430 558336 559335 562177 561405 562874 565094 569493 570314 569830 563206 558751 552876 545318 539219 540288 542305 546108 547679 559050
Pampa 87607 88237 88902 89360 89403 88651 88366 87932 88012 89147 90335 89860 89066 87291 84876 83640 82799 81205 79600 78657 78497 78022 77564 76408 74842 72535 70582 67750 65467 63697 62020 61150 61046 60617
Pantanal 29130 30000 32193 33429 34221 34489 33142 30686 30520 30260 30336 30294 31733 30898 31439 32600 32504 33690 35810 37676 38867 39748 40096 41286 40318 38509 38471 37626 36880 36903 37195 37202 37661 42700
Total 1177562 1180733 1235815 1287875 1323415 1351272 1376143 1402016 1427831 1456491 1485938 1508619 1532708 1557944 1586575 1618977 1629505 1646558 1657761 1670911 1682956 1699674 1703542 1707912 1696733 1691347 1679617 1669514 1660315 1666154 1665446 1672907 1676929 1697062

*table values represents the area in km2

Soy area

Data source: Agrosatelite - https://agrosatelite.com.br/
Time period: Amazon biome: 2001, 2007, 2010, 2015 and 2017
Cerrado biome: 2001, 2007, 2014 and 2017
About the data: The soy crops were mapped using two complementary satellites, Landsat and Modis images. The final maps represent the extension of the soy area in Amazon and the Cerrado biome. The same method was also applied to detect and quantify the extension of other annual crops, even though we are plotting in the graph below only the soy area.

Biome 2001 2007 2010 2014 2015 2017
Amazon 3685 14573 21403 NA 40687 45871
Cerrado 93085 122981 NA 174278 NA 170673

*table values represents the area in km2

Amazon soy area by state

UF 2001 2007 2010 2015 2017
AMAPÁ NA 4 18 123 190
MARANHÃO NA 23 22 449 985
MATO GROSSO 3402 12974 18941 33867 37063
PARÁ 72 758 1221 3599 4503
RONDÔNIA 191 734 1147 2225 2568
RORAIMA 20 68 39 266 345
TOCANTINS NA 12 15 158 217
TOTAL 3685 14573 21403 40687 45871

*table values represents the area in km2

Cerrado soy area by state

UF 2001 2007 2014 2017
BAHIA 8264 12214 20363 16274
DISTRITO FEDERAL 588 772 973 886
GOIÁS 21389 27714 37317 36445
MARANHÃO 2304 4620 7373 7485
MATO GROSSO 35035 44630 57191 56306
MATO GROSSO DO SUL 8189 10474 14228 16529
MINAS GERAIS 10173 12687 17102 15315
PARANÁ 778 918 945 795
PIAUÍ 625 2491 7196 6534
SÃO PAULO 4944 3670 4638 4964
TOCANTINS 796 2791 6952 9140
TOTAL 93085 122981 174278 170673

*table values represents the area in km2

Soy and Pasture deforestation by state

Cattle deforestation

Data source: Trase http://trase.earth
Time period: 2016 and 2017
About the data: Cattle deforestation is the area of deforestation caused by pasture expansion. Deforestation is considered as “cattle deforestation” if pasture is detected within five years of land being deforested (and soy is not then detected on that land within the five-year period, in which case it is “soy deforestation”). Calculated using a five-year cattle lifecycle (i.e. 2017 figures are calculated from pasture expansion in 2013-2017), to account for cattle living multiple years.

States 2015 2016
ACRE 55 55
AMAZONAS 200 341
BAHIA 47 48
GOIÁS 118 77
MARANHÃO 146 130
MATO GROSSO 515 481
MATO GROSSO DO SUL 41 47
MINAS GERAIS 76 40
PARÁ 407 481
PIAUÍ 3 6
RONDÔNIA 343 372
RORAIMA 16 29
TOCANTINS 352 178
TOTAL 2319 2285

*table values represents the area in km2

Soy deforestation

Data source: Agrosatelite - Trase http://trase.earth
Time period: 2002 to 2016
About the data: Average annual deforestation for the past 5 years due to conversion for soy. Calculated by crossing per-pixel annual deforestation alerts and soy crop maps, includes a minimum one-year time lag between detected deforested area and soy export.

States 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
ACRE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ALAGOAS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
AMAPÁ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
AMAZONAS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
BAHIA 406 598 598 139 139 613 613 318 318 405 405 184 153 70 10
CEARÁ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
DISTRITO FEDERAL 4 5 5 3 3 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0
ESPÍRITO SANTO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GOIÁS 316 242 242 61 61 68 68 61 61 45 45 69 90 63 33
MARANHÃO 271 369 371 76 73 343 343 143 144 170 171 126 239 152 43
MATO GROSSO 1922 2467 1656 121 51 275 245 105 187 201 158 149 132 160 39
MATO GROSSO DO SUL 37 35 35 12 12 14 14 10 10 6 6 13 21 27 6
MINAS GERAIS 193 108 108 33 33 39 39 34 34 24 24 23 42 23 11
PARÁ 13 15 25 7 2 13 9 3 19 11 20 4 4 13 8
PARANÁ 5 4 4 4 4 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 1
PERNAMBUCO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
PIAUÍ 118 247 247 66 66 218 218 302 302 476 476 248 181 89 33
RIO DE JANEIRO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RIO GRANDE DO NORTE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RIO GRANDE DO SUL 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RONDÔNIA 5 17 7 4 0 2 2 1 7 3 1 1 3 7 3
RORAIMA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SANTA CATARINA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SÃO PAULO 6 3 3 2 2 1 1 2 2 0 0 2 1 1 0
SERGIPE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOCANTINS 143 297 297 102 102 166 167 116 116 192 192 236 326 244 79
TOTAL 3439 4407 3598 630 548 1754 1721 1097 1202 1533 1498 1056 1193 852 266

*table values represents the area in km2

Last Updated: 07, oktober, 2019 at 09:58