DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Ranching, Resources and Resilience: Uncovering the Impact of Land Grabbing in the Amazon

Project disclaimer

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Description

Over the past few decades, Brazil has been growing a reputation as an "agricultural powerhouse" (Stabile et al. 2020), a global leader in global agricultural production. Yet, this increase in agricultural development has resulted in negative environmental and social outcomes, particularly in forested regions of the country with weak governance in areas of agricultural practice. Brazil has nearly 55 Mha undesignated public forests in the Amazon (Sparovek et al., 2019), yet due to lack of clarity on land legislation, unclaimed territory is often occupied by deregulated cattle ranchers, also known as land grabbers, who are becoming key players in the expansion of pastureland in Amazonia. These activities now constitute one of the main drivers of deforestation (63%), as livestock occupies up to 85% of land cleared (Hecht and Cockburn, 2010). Although the intensification of these practices is the main cause of the spread of deforestation in the Amazon, its impact on and the effects on water access are rarely recognised. Research is increasingly recognising that the environmental degradation linked to cattle ranching extends beyond deforestation, influencing the hydrological cycles in the region. The clearing of forests disrupts the natural water balance, reducing rainfall interception, groundwater recharge, and altering river flows. These changes not only affect local ecosystems but have broader implications for water availability, which is critical for both human consumption and agricultural productivity. The cumulative effect of these processes contributes to a cycle of increasing aridity, which could further exacerbate the challenges faced by communities and ecosystems in the Amazon. Understanding the interconnectivity between land use change, water resources, and socio-political factors forms the basis for developing effective frameworks to create practical, sustainable management strategies in endangered zones of the Amazon rainforest. This project will serve as an initial scoping study to lay the foundations for a larger project bid on cattle ranching, land management and associated water scarcity. The aim of the pilot study, which we classify as an environmental planning social study, is to initiate an innovative, actor-centred, and interdisciplinary investigation into land grabbing within the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve (CMER) in the state of Acre, Brazil. The project will focus on two specific aspects of this phenomenon: 1) the relationship between land management and water access, and 2) the legal, social, and political mechanisms used to legitimise cattle ranching practices. Both research streams stem from the priorities and concerns of cattle ranchers themselves, identified through previous research in CMER that Dr Sabina Ribeiro has been conducting since 2015. The goal is to build networks among interdisciplinary scholars interested in these themes, in order to create a strong trajectory towards a larger project that will offer new insights into a phenomenon that has often been presented in reductive and homogeneous terms within the existing scholarly literature.

Objectives

Over the past few decades, Brazil has been growing a reputation as an "agricultural powerhouse" (Stabile et al. 2020), a global leader in global agricultural production. Yet, this increase in agricultural development has resulted in negative environmental and social outcomes, particularly in forested regions of the country with weak governance in areas of agricultural practice. Brazil has nearly 55 Mha undesignated public forests in the Amazon (Sparovek et al., 2019), yet due to lack of clarity on land legislation, unclaimed territory is often occupied by deregulated cattle ranchers, also known as land grabbers, who are becoming key players in the expansion of pastureland in Amazonia. These activities now constitute one of the main drivers of deforestation (63%), as livestock occupies up to 85% of land cleared (Hecht and Cockburn, 2010). Although the intensification of these practices is the main cause of the spread of deforestation in the Amazon, its impact on and the effects on water access are rarely recognised. Research is increasingly recognising that the environmental degradation linked to cattle ranching extends beyond deforestation, influencing the hydrological cycles in the region. The clearing of forests disrupts the natural water balance, reducing rainfall interception, groundwater recharge, and altering river flows. These changes not only affect local ecosystems but have broader implications for water availability, which is critical for both human consumption and agricultural productivity. The cumulative effect of these processes contributes to a cycle of increasing aridity, which could further exacerbate the challenges faced by communities and ecosystems in the Amazon. Understanding the interconnectivity between land use change, water resources, and socio-political factors forms the basis for developing effective frameworks to create practical, sustainable management strategies in endangered zones of the Amazon rainforest. This project will serve as an initial scoping study to lay the foundations for a larger project bid on cattle ranching, land management and associated water scarcity. The aim of the pilot study, which we classify as an environmental planning social study, is to initiate an innovative, actor-centred, and interdisciplinary investigation into land grabbing within the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve (CMER) in the state of Acre, Brazil. The project will focus on two specific aspects of this phenomenon: 1) the relationship between land management and water access, and 2) the legal, social, and political mechanisms used to legitimise cattle ranching practices. Both research streams stem from the priorities and concerns of cattle ranchers themselves, identified through previous research in CMER that Dr Sabina Ribeiro has been conducting since 2015. The goal is to build networks among interdisciplinary scholars interested in these themes, in order to create a strong trajectory towards a larger project that will offer new insights into a phenomenon that has often been presented in reductive and homogeneous terms within the existing scholarly literature.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

Brazil

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