Over the past three decades, tropical forest clearing and burning have greatly altered the Amazonian landscape by increasing the cover of pastures and secondary forests. The alteration of biogeochemical processes on these lands is of particular interest on highly weathered Oxisols that cover large areas in the region because of concerns regarding possible nutrient limitation in agricultural land uses and during forest regrowth. The objectives of this study were to quantify (1) the reaccumulation of nutrients in biomass of secondary land uses, (2) changes in soil nutrient contents, (3) internal nutrient cycles, and (4) input–output budgets for the landscape mosaic.
EXTRACTIVE RESERVES IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON THIRTY YEARS AFTER CHICO MENDES: SOCIAL MOVEMENT ACHIEVEMENTS, TERRITORIAL EXPANSION AND CONTINUING STRUGGLES
The Brazilian Amazon contains the largest remaining contiguous forest in the tropics, but also faces strong development pressures and one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. In the 30 years since the murder of the rubber tapper leader Chico Mendes...