Desmatamento e desemprego rural na Mata Atlântica

Abstract

This paper arise the questions related to the automatic relationship between deforestation and economic growth, an argument that is usually presented by those defending the conversion of forests into agricultural land. This supposition that deforestation is a means for economic growth has been used recurrently by the landowners lobby in the Brazilian congress aiming at the reduction of the minimum area of mandatory conservation in private properties, established by the Brazilian Forest Code. However, an analysis of counties (municípios) in Brazil's South Region shows that there is no consistent correlation between deforestation and the expansion of agricultural activities in the period 1985-1995/96. Therefore, to allow more deforestation in the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica) will not increase agricultural employment and production significantly, at the expense of higher levels of threat to an ecosystem that is already very fragile.