Assessment of deforestation and fire in groups of protected areas of the Amazon

Abstract

The creation of protected areas was conceived as a global strategy of protecting natural habitats against anthropogenic interventions . This work aimed to evaluate deforestation and fires in protected areas of the Amazon. The groups were: indigenous territories, fully protected conservation units, public sustainable use conservation units, public/private sustainable use conservation units , and non-protected areas. For each group, deforestation and fire density was determined annually in the 2000-2017 period. The most efficient groups to contain deforestation were fully protected conservation units and indigenous territories. The sustainable use conservation units - public/private domain group was ineffective in containing deforestation. Regarding fires, the fully protected conservation units’ group was the most efficient in their containment. The only group that was not effective in containing fire was public/private sustainable use conservation units . The correlation between deforestation and fires was low for protected areas, indicating that fire is mainly related to agropastoral management. In order to more efficiently contain deforestation and fires in Amazon, the creation of fully protected conservation units should be prioritized. Alternatively, more indigenous territories and public sustainable use conservation units could be created;  although less effective in containing deforestation and fires, they are nevertheless important for preserving Amazonian sociodiversity.