Title:
A Review of Recent Land Use Change Driven by Sugarcane Expansion in Brazil
Author(s):
Hernandes, T., Walter, A., Galdos, M., Cunha, M.
Document(s):
Paper
Abstract:
One of the controversial aspects of adopting biofuels as a global warming mitigation strategy is the land use change (LUC) due to the expansion of feedstock production. Thus, the LUC due to the sugarcane expansion in Brazil in 1996-2012 was evaluated, using national statistics and remote sensing data. In this period, soybean was the major crop regarding expansion (13 Mha), while the cattle density increased from 0.86 to 1.08 heads per hectare in 1996-2006, which potentially released lands for agricultural expansion. In 2003-2012 sugarcane areas increased mainly in Southeast, and more than half (2.6 Mha) of Brazilian sugarcane expansion took place in São Paulo state. Only few municipalities presented an increase of sugarcane area larger than 25,000 hectares. In Center-South region, and between 1995 and 2006, there was an increase in forest areas, except in Mato Grosso where 2.86 million hectares were deforested; as sugarcane expansion was 0.1 Mha and crop expansion achieved 3.37 Mha, a conclusion is that deforestation can not be attributed to sugarcane expansion. The previous land uses in sugarcane expansion areas were primarily pastures and annual crops. Both remote sensing and survey-derived land use data provide evidence that sugarcane expansion has not caused significant deforestation.
Keywords:
biofuels, land use, sugar cane, agricultural intensification
Topic:
Biomass Policies, Markets and Sustainability
Subtopic:
Assessment of bioenergy effects
Event:
20th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
5AV.2.10
Pages:
2313 - 2318
ISBN:
978-88-89407-54-7
Paper DOI:
10.5071/20thEUBCE2012-5AV.2.10
Price:
FREE
