Deforestation Analysis in Mato Grosso (Prodes/2017)
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Deforestation Analysis in Mato Grosso (Prodes/2017) Between August 2016 and July 2017, the deforestation rate of the Amazonian forest, mapped by the Project for Monitoring Deforestation in the Legal Amazon by Satellite (Prodes), of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), was 6,624 km². Mato Grosso accounted for 20% of all deforestation detected in the Amazon, which meant more than 1,341 km² of clear-cut deforestation (Figure 1). With these rates, 2017 deforestation rate was reduced 16% in the Amazon as a whole and 10% in Mato Grosso. In 2015, at COP21, Mato Grosso committed to eliminating illegal deforestation by 2020 and to achieve a rate below 571 km² by 2030. In this context, the 1,193 km² of illegal deforestation and 1,341 km² of total deforestation still represent very high rates for the state to be able fulfill its commitment. Figure 1 | The deforestation rate (km²) in the forest area from August 2012 to July 2017 (Prodes / Inpe). Since 2012, Mato Grosso has maintained a rate of over 1,000 km² of deforestation per year (Figure 2). The state has the second highest Amazonian deforestion rate in the country, behind just the state of Pará. Forest conversion in the state has a high degree of illegality. Of all the deforestation identified, only 10% was carried out in areas with valid deforestation or vegetation suppression permits issued by the state environmental agency². The study of the deforestation sites in the reservoir areas of the licensed hydroelectric plants, shows that 16 km² are attributable to hydroelectric power generation, which represented just over 1% of the total area. Thus, deforestation, authorized by both federal and state agencies, amounts to 11% of the deforested area in 2017. The result is better than in 2016, which presented an illegality rate of about 95%, but shows that there is an urgent need for the adoption of drastic measures against illegality if Mato Grosso wants to reach the established goal of zeroing illegal deforestation by 2020. 89% of all deforestation in Mato Grosso is illegal. Deforestation characteristics in the Mato Grosso Amazon in 2017¹ 1,800 8K 1,600 7.1K 1,400 6.2K 1,200 5.3K n o o s 1,000 4.4K z s a o r m G A o 800 3.6K l t a a g e M 600 2.7K L 400 1.8K 200 0.9K 0 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Mato Grosso Legal Amazon Figure 2 | The deforestation pattern (km²) in the forest area from August 2012 to July 2017 (Prodes / Inpe). The concentration of deforested areas in certain regions of the state demonstrates the existence of active deforestation frontiers. In 2017, 10 municipalities were responsible for 48% of the clear-cut areas (Figure 3). In this context, the Northwest region also stands out as being responsible for 33% of all deforestation seen during the period (430 km²). Colniza, alone, had 41% of deforestation detected in this region (174.7 km²), most of which occurred in areas of an unidentified land category (67%). 5 5 e o 2 2 Confresa t Peixoto de r Juara r Colniza Nova União do Sul o 26 o d 21 174 45 Azevedo n o Maringá s m 39 a r 49 o B C Cotriguaçu Juína Nova Novo Santa Nova 45 32 Mundo Cruz do Lacerda Bandeirantes 19 Xingu 15 16 48 Claúdia Nova Ubiratã 31 43 Gaúcha do a 7 1 Apiacás b Norte ú 27 a t Feliz Natal I Aripuanã 48 40 92 Marcelândia 47 Paranaíta Santa Carmen 40 27 Figura 3 | Deforestation Distribution (km²) by municipality from August 2016 to July 2017 (Prodes / Inpe). Figure 4 | Regions of deforestation concentration detected between August 2016 and July 2017 in Mato Grosso (Prodes / Inpe). Less than 10 hectares 101 From 10 to 20 hectares 190 From 20 to 50 hectares 245 From 50 to 100 hectares 179 From 100 to 250 hectares 265 From 250 to 500 hectares 174 From 500 to 1,000 hectares 146 More than 1,000 hectares 14 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 Figura 5 | Áreas desmatadas (km²) por tamanho de polígono, de agosto de 2016 a julho de 2017 (Prodes/Inpe). Prodes detection has shown an increase in the size of deforested areas. In 2017, polygons larger than 50 hectares accounted for 56% of deforestation (Figure 5). Deforestation areas larger than 100 hectares increased by 37% between 2016 and 2017. Analysis by land category showed that 47.5% (623 km²) of deforestation occurred in private rural properties registered in the National System of Rural Environmental Registry (Sicar). Another 463 km² of deforestation occurred in areas with an unknown land category (Figure 6). The agrarian reform settlements projects, in turn, account for 15.4% of the deforested area, which means a 20% reduction in relation to the previous year. 15.38% 47.45% 35.26% 0.91% Desmatamento (km²) 0.00% 0.99% Unknown land Settlements projects Rural properties in Sicar Indigenous Land Conservation Unit Hydroelectric plants Figura 6 | Deforested areas (km²) by land category, from August 2016 to July 2017 (Prodes / Inpe). Of the deforested areas on private properties, 58% occurred in properties with areas greater than 1,500 hectares. Of these, 86% of the polygons were larger than 100 hectares (Table 1). Thus, it can be observed that 26% of the total deforestation was related to the areas of more than 100 hectares on large properties. 1/4 of the deforested areas are of more than 100 hectares in size and occur on large private properties Less than 10 From 10 to 20 From 20 to 50 From 50 to 100 From 100 to More than 500 Size Total ha ha ha ha 500 ha ha Less than 400 hectares 2,254 1,826 2,493 2,253 2,057 0 10,883 From 400 to 1,500 808 924 2,076 2,451 11,677 684 18,620 hectares More than 1,500 548 809 1,690 2,565 11,945 22,541 40,098 hectares Total 3,610 3,560 6,259 7,269 25,679 23,225 69,601 Table 1 | Deforested areas (hectares) on private rural properties registered according to the size of the property and the deforestation polygons, from August 2016 to July 2017 (Prodes / Inpe). Data collected from the State Secretariat for the Environment (Sema) show the increase in enforcement efforts in recent years. Between 2013 and 2016, the number of embargoes applied by the state body increased by about 20 times (Figure 7). However, in 2017, the embargoed area was 82% less than in the previous year³. Of the 815 km² embargoed between 2016 and 2017, only 62 km² were in areas with Prodes 2017 detection. Ibama enforcement in Mato Grosso maintains higher rates than the state agency. From 2013 to 2017, an annual average of 653 embargo documents due to illegal deforestation were drafted, covering a little more than 1 thousand km² per year. In 2017, there was also a significant reduction in the enforcement efforts - 46% less. 12% of the areas with federal embargoes between 2016 and 2017 coincided with deforestation detected by Prodes 2017. 2 2 1 3 0 9 1 0 4 4 2 4 7 8 6 1 6 5 6 5 3 5 0 7 4 4 4 4 0 7 8 2 6 7 8 1 0 0 1 9 6 7 2 1 7 1 5 2 1 7 7 1 8 4 1 4 6 3 5 9 2 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Embargoed area Sema (km²) Number of embargoes SEMA Embargoed area Ibama (km²) Number of embargoes Ibama Figure 7 | Embargoes for illegal deforestation in Mato Grosso, carried out by Sema and Ibama from 2013 to 2017. Recommendations for deforestation control Deforestation data detected by Prodes demonstrate that it is necessary to reinforce actions to combat illegal deforestation and to improve the implementation of public policies and private initiatives that reduce pressure on the forests. Thus, our recommendations are: 1. Intensify monitoring and enforcement action: a significant part of the deforestation occurs in registered properties and in polygons over 100 ha. Remote assessment implementation can help the state government act in a more agile way in the identification and accountability of the offenders. In addition, the implementation of an Environmental Operations Center in the Northwest may be decisive in the fight against almost 1/3 of the deforestation in the state. 2. Implement the Forest Code: make progress in registration analysis and environmental regularization of rural properties, with incentives for the recovery of areas and forest maintenance and bringing to account those who carried out illegal deforestation. 3. Provide environmental information: Transparency of CAR data, licensing, authorizations and monitoring is essential for society, public agencies and the private sector to monitor the actions of violators, as well as monitoring the actions of public authorities so as to increase environmental control. Notes ¹ The analyzes were made using Prodes deforestation polygons identified in ² Sema's deforestation permit data for the year 2017 refer to the months from Mato Grosso, obtained directly from the Inpe website. According to this January to September. database, the state was responsible for 1,314 km² in 2017. The official rate reported by Prodes is 1,341 km². This difference occurs because Inpe adds up ³ The embargo data issued by Sema for the year 2017 refer to the months of the deforested areas of previous years that were covered by clouds when the January to September.