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Mining code changes undermine biodiversity conservation in Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2017

SARA VILLÉN-PÉREZ ,
POLIANA MENDES Open the ORCID record for POLIANA MENDES [Opens in a new window] ,
CAROLINE NÓBREGA ,
LARA GOMES CÓRTES  and
PAULO DE MARCO JUNIOR Open the ORCID record for PAULO DE MARCO JUNIOR [Opens in a new window]
SARA VILLÉN-PÉREZ
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Goiás – Ecology, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
POLIANA MENDES
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Goiás – Ecology, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
CAROLINE NÓBREGA
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Goiás – Ecology, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, Belém, Pará, Brazil
LARA GOMES CÓRTES
Affiliation:
Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil
PAULO DE MARCO JUNIOR*
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Goiás – Ecology, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil
*
*Correspondence: Dr Paulo De Marco Junior email: [email protected]
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Extract

Protected areas (PAs) are vital for the conservation of Brazil's biodiversity (Barber et al.2014). However, they are at risk of a downgrade in legal status due to economic pressures on natural resources (Bernard et al.2014; De Marques & Perez 2014; Pack et al.2016). Mining is one of the most urgent environmental threats in Brazil (Ferreira et al.2014; El Bizri et al.2016), with plans in place for a 10-fold increase in the number of mining projects in c. 8 years. If all were developed, the Brazilian territory occupied by mining would increase 23-fold in the near future. Currently, 12 697 projects covering 98 × 105 ha are planned within PAs. Licensing and exploitation of 53% of this land will depend on the approval of three bills that intend to authorize mining in areas where it was formerly forbidden. Here, we analyse the potential consequences of the approval of these new policies for conservation.

Keywords

Brazilconservation unitsdowngradingindigenous landsland-use changefuture impactprotected areas
Type
Comment
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 45 , Issue 1: Thematic section. Humans and Island Environments , March 2018 , pp. 96 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2017 

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