The part played by the Brazilian tropical timber industry in deforesting the Amazon region has not been studied very much. This book describes the expansion of the timber industry in the Brazilian federal state of Para since the 1960s, when Amazon development became an important item on the government's agenda.
Increasing agricultural productivity can have ambiguous effects on forest protection in theory: it can expand the scope of farming, which is detrimental to the forest, but it can also induce farmers to intensify their production.
Increasing global demand for food and the need to address climate change risk make it ever more urgent to both protect ecosystems and use land more productively and efficiently. Brazil is a key player in this context and has made significant gains in recent decades.
Reducing emissions from agriculture, forestry, and other land uses is considered an essential ingredient of an effective strategy to mitigate global warming.