IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v133y2023ics0264837723003344.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Viewpoint: Sovereignty and reversing Brazil’s history of Amazon destruction

Author

Listed:
  • Fernandes, Stephannie
  • Fernandes, Geraldo W.
  • Fearnside, Philip M.

Abstract

Brazilians have lived for many years under governments with discourse proclaiming the need to occupy and develop the Amazon to integrate this vast territory into the rest of the country. Increasing the region’s population, economic activity and infrastructure have been promoted to expand agricultural production and to protect Brazil's Amazonian borders and natural resources from foreign nations; but the processes of occupation and development have taken pathways with severe impacts. Infrastructure to connect to markets now facilitates the destruction of the region’s forests, and illegal activities were openly supported until recently by Jair Bolsonaro’s (2019–2022) presidential administration. Although Brazil’s sovereignty over its Amazonian territory is uncontested, today it is a space that is largely controlled by those who exploit the region’s commodities, often, ironically, led by foreign interests.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernandes, Stephannie & Fernandes, Geraldo W. & Fearnside, Philip M., 2023. "Viewpoint: Sovereignty and reversing Brazil’s history of Amazon destruction," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:133:y:2023:i:c:s0264837723003344
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106868
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837723003344
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106868?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philip Fearnside, 2001. "The Potential of Brazil's Forest Sector for Mitigating Global Warming under the Kyoto Protocol," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 355-372, September.
    2. Conceição, Katyanne V. & Chaves, Michel E.D. & Picoli, Michelle C.A. & Sánchez, Alber H. & Soares, Anderson R. & Mataveli, Guilherme A.V. & Silva, Daniel E. & Costa, Joelma S. & Camara, Gilberto, 2021. "Government policies endanger the indigenous peoples of the Brazilian Amazon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    3. Mercedes M. C. Bustamante & José Salomão Silva & Aldicir Scariot & Alexandre Bonesso Sampaio & Daniel Luis Mascia & Edenise Garcia & Edson Sano & Geraldo Wilson Fernandes & Giselda Durigan & Iris Roit, 2019. "Ecological restoration as a strategy for mitigating and adapting to climate change: lessons and challenges from Brazil," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 1249-1270, October.
    4. Luciana V. Gatti & Luana S. Basso & John B. Miller & Manuel Gloor & Lucas Gatti Domingues & Henrique L. G. Cassol & Graciela Tejada & Luiz E. O. C. Aragão & Carlos Nobre & Wouter Peters & Luciano Mara, 2021. "Amazonia as a carbon source linked to deforestation and climate change," Nature, Nature, vol. 595(7867), pages 388-393, July.
    5. Barbosa, Luciana Gomes & Alves, Maria Alice Santos & Grelle, Carlos Eduardo Viveiros, 2021. "Actions against sustainability: Dismantling of the environmental policies in Brazil," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eugenio Arima & Paulo Barreto & Farzad Taheripour & Angel Aguiar, 2021. "Dynamic Amazonia: The EU–Mercosur Trade Agreement and Deforestation," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-23, November.
    2. Chaves, Michel E.D. & Sanches, Ieda D. & Adami, Marcos, 2023. "Brazil needs juridical security to recover agri-environmental epistemic sovereignty," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    3. Niemeyer, Julia & Vale, Mariana M., 2022. "Obstacles and opportunities for implementing a policy-mix for ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change in Brazil's Caatinga," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    4. Carlos F. A. Silva & Swanni T. Alvarado & Alex M. Santos & Maurício O. Andrade & Silas N. Melo, 2022. "Highway Network and Fire Occurrence in Amazonian Indigenous Lands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Muradian, Roldan & Cahyafitri, Raras & Ferrando, Tomaso & Grottera, Carolina & Jardim-Wanderley, Luiz & Krause, Torsten & Kurniawan, Nanang I. & Loft, Lasse & Nurshafira, Tadzkia & Prabawati-Suwito, D, 2025. "Will the EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) reduce tropical forest loss? Insights from three producer countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    6. World Bank, "undated". "Consolidating the Recovery," World Bank Publications - Reports 37244, The World Bank Group.
    7. Ollinaho, Ossi I. & Kröger, Markus, 2023. "Separating the two faces of “bioeconomy”: Plantation economy and sociobiodiverse economy in Brazil," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    8. Jung, Martina, 2003. "The Role of Forestry Sinks in the CDM - Analysing the Effects of Policy Decisions on the Carbon Market," Discussion Paper Series 26293, Hamburg Institute of International Economics.
    9. Humberto Alves Barbosa & Catarina de Oliveira Buriti, 2025. "Assessing the Impact of Amazonian Fires on Atmospheric NO 2 Using Satellite Data," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-14, February.
    10. Apeti, Ablam Estel & N’Doua, Bossoma Doriane, 2023. "The impact of timber regulations on timber and timber product trade," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    11. Tianlin Zhai & Linke Wu & Yuanmeng Chen & Mian Faisal Nazir & Mingyuan Chang & Yuanbo Ma & Enxiang Cai & Guanyu Ding & Chenchen Zhao & Ling Li & Longyang Huang, 2022. "Ecological Compensation in the Context of Carbon Neutrality: A Case Involving Service Production-Transmission and Distribution-Service Consumption," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-18, December.
    12. Wenmin Zhang & Guy Schurgers & Josep Peñuelas & Rasmus Fensholt & Hui Yang & Jing Tang & Xiaowei Tong & Philippe Ciais & Martin Brandt, 2023. "Recent decrease of the impact of tropical temperature on the carbon cycle linked to increased precipitation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Porro, Roberto & Porro, Noemi Sakiara Miyasaka, 2022. "State-led social and environmental policy failure in a Brazilian forest frontier: Sustainable Development Project in Anapu, Pará," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    14. Fortmann, Lea & Cordero-Salas, Paula & Sohngen, Brent & Brian, Roe, 2016. "Incentive Contracts for Environmental Services and their Potential in REDD," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 9(3-4), pages 363-409, September.
    15. Mohsen Khezri, 2025. "Impact of Various Land Cover Transformations on Climate Change: Insights from a Spatial Panel Analysis," Data, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, January.
    16. Lukas Baumbach & Thomas Hickler & Rasoul Yousefpour & Marc Hanewinkel, 2023. "High economic costs of reduced carbon sinks and declining biome stability in Central American forests," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    17. Anthony Burke, 2022. "An architecture for a net zero world: Global climate governance beyond the epoch of failure," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(S3), pages 24-37, December.
    18. Hamish Clarke & Rachael H. Nolan & Victor Resco Dios & Ross Bradstock & Anne Griebel & Shiva Khanal & Matthias M. Boer, 2022. "Forest fire threatens global carbon sinks and population centres under rising atmospheric water demand," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    19. Michel G. J. Elzen & Ioannis Dafnomilis & Nicklas Forsell & Panagiotis Fragkos & Kostas Fragkiadakis & Niklas Höhne & Takeshi Kuramochi & Leonardo Nascimento & Mark Roelfsema & Heleen Soest & Frank Sp, 2022. "Updated nationally determined contributions collectively raise ambition levels but need strengthening further to keep Paris goals within reach," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 27(6), pages 1-29, August.
    20. Celentano, Danielle & Moraes, Miguel & Ferreira, Joice & Nahur, André & Coutinho, Bruno & Rousseau, Guillaume X. & Martins, Marlucia Bonifacio & Vasconcelos, Lívia G.T. Rangel & Rodrigues, Fernanda & , 2022. "Forest restoration to promote a fair post COVID-19 recovery in the Brazilian Amazon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:133:y:2023:i:c:s0264837723003344. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.