Forest carbon emissions from cropland expansion in the Brazilian Cerrado biome.

Abstract. Land use, land use change, and forestry accounted for two-thirds of Brazil?s greenhouse gas emissions profile in 2005. Amazon deforestation has declined by more than 80% over the past decade, yet Brazil?s forests extend beyond the Amazon biome. Rapid expansion of cropland in the neighborin...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: NOOJIPADY, P., MORTON, D. C., MACEDO, M. N., VICTORIA, D. de C., HUANG, C., GIBBS, H. K., BOLFE, E. L.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:Brasil
Institución:Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da EMBRAPA (Repository Open Access to Scientific Information from EMBRAPA - Alice)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br:doc/1113471
Acceso en línea:http://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/alice/handle/doc/1113471
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Emissão de carbono
Expansão agrícola
Matopiba
Carbon emissions
Agriculture expansion
Cropland expansion
Desmatamento
Cerrado
Uso da Terra
Sensoriamento Remoto
Deforestation
Land use
Remote sensing
Descripción
Sumario:Abstract. Land use, land use change, and forestry accounted for two-thirds of Brazil?s greenhouse gas emissions profile in 2005. Amazon deforestation has declined by more than 80% over the past decade, yet Brazil?s forests extend beyond the Amazon biome. Rapid expansion of cropland in the neighboring Cerrado biome has the potential to undermine climate mitigation efforts if emissions from dry forest and woodland conversion negate some of the benefits of avoided Amazon deforestation. Here, we used satellite data on cropland expansion, forest cover, and vegetation carbon stocks to estimate annual gross forest carbon emissions from cropland expansion in the Cerrado biome. Nearly half of the Cerrado met Brazil?s definition of forest cover in 2000 (?0.5 ha with ?10% canopy cover). In areas of established crop production, conversion of both forest and non-forest Cerrado formations for cropland declined during 2003?2013. However, forest carbon emissions from cropland expansion increased over the past decade in Matopiba, a new frontier of agricultural production that includes portions of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia states. Gross carbon emissions from cropland expansion in the Cerrado averaged 16.28 Tg C yr1 between 2003 and 2013, with forest-to-cropland conversion accounting for 29% of emissions. The fraction of forest carbon emissions from Matopiba was much higher; between 2010?2013, large-scale cropland conversion in Matopiba contributed 45% of total Cerrado forest carbon emissions. Carbon emissions from Cerrado-tocropland transitions offset 5%?7% of the avoided emissions from reduced Amazon deforestation rates during 2011?2013. Comprehensive national estimates of forest carbon fluxes, including all biomes, are critical to detect cross-biome leakage within countries and achieve climate mitigation targets to reduce emissions from land use, land use change, and forestry.