Relação entre as atividades produtivas e a conservação dos remanescentes florestais em propriedades rurais na Amazônia Oriental.

Abstract

The characteristics of rural properties and the landscape, including the type of land use, can be predictors of the degree of integrity of the remaining native vegetation. However, the interrelationships between productive activities and the conservation of forest remnants in the Amazon are still poorly understood. The aim of this study was to assess whether the type of land use and the specific characteristics of private rural properties influence the degree of integrity of forest remnants in the Guamá micro-region, in northeastern Pará, which has 13 municipalities. To do this, we mapped the areas of permanent crops and forests, integrating this data with information from the Annual Mapping of Land Use and Land Cover in Brazil Project (MapBiomas). We used three variables as proxies for the integrity of native forests: the Normalized Difference Infrared Index (NDII), calculated using Landsat images, and height and above-ground biomass calculated using information from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI). Seven main predictors were included in the analysis: a) TPR - the size of the rural property; b) AGRI_PR - the proportion of the rural property occupied by permanent agriculture; c) FOR - the area of native vegetation on the rural property; d) FOR_PR - the proportion of the rural property occupied by native vegetation; e) %FP - percentage of forest in the landscape; f) FIRE - average number of times the forest fragment on the property was burned between 1985 and 2022; g) IVEG - average age of the fragments. The results indicated that four predictors were important for explaining the variation in above-ground biomass (Mg/ha) of the forest fragments on the properties (FOR_PR, FIRE, IVEG, log_TPR), explaining 10% of the observed variation (r² = 0.10; p<0.05). All the predictors were relevant to explaining the variation in height in the fragments, explaining 28% of these variables (r² = 0.28; p<0.05). In the case of NDII, all the predictors were also significant, explaining 13% of the variation in the data (r² = 0.03; p<0.05). These findings highlight the importance of considering the complexity of the interactions between land use and the characteristics of rural properties for the conservation of forest remnants in the Amazon. This research contributes to the understanding of environmental dynamics and provides subsidies for policies and practices aimed at the sustainability and preservation of the Eastern Amazon.