GEO Brasil - UNEP

the state of biodiversity
the state of the environment in Brazil
continent
The fragile equilibrium of the Pantanal ecosystems, defined
by periodic flood dynamics, is being threatened by new
trends of economic development After the 1970s, there
was a process of expansion that caused demographic
growth in the Brazilian MidWest The region of Pantanal
plains, with its land distribution structure – large properties
used for cattle breeding in flooded areas - was not
incorporated into the population growth process However,
in the plateau, the standard of urban growth was
accelerated The cities expanded at this time, both in
Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, did not have and
still do not have adequate infrastructure to minimize
environmental impacts of accelerated growth, caused,
mainly, by contamination of the water courses by domestic
or industrial waste This type of pollution directly affects
the plains that receive sediments and residues from the
plateau areas (IBAMA 2001)
Traditional methods of fishing and cattle-breeding are
being rapidly substituted by intensive exploitation,
coupled with deforestation and alteration of natural areas
(Conservation International et al 1999), resulting, among
other factors, in soil erosion and in the significant increase
in the load of sediment particles in various rivers
Moreover, the problem of contamination of many rivers
with biocides and fertilizers increases (IBAMA 2001) In
addition, the presence of gold and diamonds in the low
cuiabana and in the Paraguay and São Lourenço river
springs has attracted thousands of gold miners,
compromising the biological productivity of water
courses, as well as contaminating them with mercury
available in the world (Rebouças 1999 em MMA 2000b),
is also the repository of a valuable source of natural
services and of genetic stock that can be the origin of
new medicines and foods
Despite being the most well conserved biome in the
country, deforestation and burnings are the main
environmental problems in the Amazon Deforestation
is the result of the advance of the agro-pastoral frontier,
mainly in the States of Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Pará and
Rondônia, and of activities from timber companies The
low cuts for agro-pastoral means in the Amazon has
increased considerably in the1980s due to the adoption
of erroneous public policies, such as fiscal incentives for
programs that convert forest into agro-pastoral projects
As a result, there was a loss of 11 to 13 percent of the
vegetation cap in that decade alone (MMA, 2000b)
Practically 80 percent of the national wood production in
the form of logs is extracted from the Amazon region,
which corresponds to 40 percent of Brazilian wood
exports In 1996 alone, 71,166 sawed cubic meters were
exported, generating resources of around 447 million
Dollars (MMA, 2000d) Wood related activities not only
affect species selected for cutting but the composition
and distribution of the remaining species in the forest
The complete devastation verified in the states of
Rondônia and Pará, especially in the south region, is a
demonstration of the need for a reorientation of the land
occupation structure in the region
A more detailed description of Brazilian biomes,
highlighting their biological importance and main threats
upon them, is presented in Annex 1
Very little of the Pantanal ecosystem is officially protected,
especially along the main central humid plains Recently,
Pantanal has been facing problems, mainly related to
great occupation projects such as the construction of
highways, roads (MMA 2000c), or large-scale projects of
soybean cultivation
As a whole, the Amazon, the planet’s greatest biodiversity
reserve containing almost 10 percent of freshwater
In Brazil, the coastal zone presents a mosaic of
ecosystems, and the contiguous marine zone includes
all diversity derived from zoned variation and from
different masses of water present in the regions of
platform and continental slope Thus, from the biogeographical
point of view, the group considered does
not characterize a unit, nor does it encompass a single
specific biome (Fundação Bio-Rio et al 2002) However,
the Brazilian Coastal Zone is a territorial unity defined by
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