Indigenous lands protect 23% of the Brazilian Amazon, covering more than 100 million hectares, and area the size of Colombia. Maintaining the integrity of these lands is crucial to contain deforestation, maintain the stability of the regional climate, mitigate global climate change, and protect indigenous rights. Indigenous land rights in the Amazon, however, are at important risk. Around 60% of mining concessions in Brazil are in the Amazon region. Indigenous lands have frequently reported illegal mining.
Land-use change affects water recycling in Brazil's last agricultural frontier
Historically, conservation-oriented research and policy in Brazil have focused on Amazon deforestation, but a majority of Brazil's deforestation and agricultural expansion has occurred in the neighboring Cerrado biome, a biodiversity hotspot comprised of dry...