Mining drives extensive deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
University of Vermont · The University of Queensland · +4 more institutions
Abstract
Abstract Mining poses significant and potentially underestimated risks to tropical forests worldwide. In Brazil’s Amazon, mining drives deforestation far beyond operational lease boundaries, yet the full extent of these impacts is unknown and thus neglected in environmental licensing. Here we quantify mining-induced deforestation and investigate the aspects of mining operations, which most likely contribute. We find mining significantly increased Amazon forest loss up to 70 km beyond mining lease boundaries, causing 11,670 km 2 of deforestation between 2005 and 2015. This extent represents 9% of all Amazon forest loss during this time and 12 times more deforestation than occurred within mining leases alone.…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 18.39
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 39
Authors
6Topics & keywords
- Deforestation (computer science)
- Amazon rainforest
- Lease
- Business
- Natural resource economics
- Geography
- Agroforestry
- Environmental science