Desmatamentos e queimadas na Amazônia entre 2001 e 2020: impactos na variabilidade da precipitação e da temperatura da superfície

Abstract

Climate change and changes in land use and land cover are serious problems that affect indigenous protection areas and climate variability in the Amazon. In recent decades, the area of the Amazon biome has suffered constant fires and deforestation, causing severe problems to the environment, because they have a considerable impact on the landscape and the hydrological cycle, and lead to loss of fauna and flora biodiversity, in addition to affecting human life. These changes have been occurring at an accelerated pace since the 2000s, due to pressure from agribusiness by the demand for food grains, mining, the use of wood, and cattle raising. Thus, the objective of this project is to analyze the influence of deforestation and fires on changes in land use and land cover and on the variability of precipitation and surface temperature in the Amazon. To carry out this research, the following methods and methodological procedures were used: (a) mapping of land use and land cover, (b) analysis of vegetation cover degradation using vegetation indices, (c) analysis of vegetation cover changes, (d) burning mapping, (e) analysis of climate variability (precipitation and surface temperature), and (f) analysis of climate influence and land cover on hydrological processes. The seriousness of the problem is confirmed when analyzing data on deforestation and the advance of new temporary crops in the basin, which can affect natural factors such as: water production, soil quality, increased runoff, soil losses and sediment production. The results showed major changes in land use and land cover between 2001 and 2020 and the main locations where fires occurred during the analyzed period. The study also showed that deforested areas have been increasing in recent decades. The results also showed that during the studied period, precipitation showed a decrease, while surface temperature was characterized by an increase in values. It can be concluded that the indigenous protection areas have been suffering from anthropic actions and the Amazon biome has been losing a considerable area of forest between 2001 and 2020.