Synopsis of Threats

The conservation status of all biomes in Brazil is of great concern. The original 1.4 million square kilometers of the Atlantic Forest region has been reduced to 7.3 percent of its original forest cover. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the Atlantic Forest region is home to approximately 70 percent of Brazil's 169 million people, mainly in the megacities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in the Serra do Mar Corridor. About 80 percent of the Brazilian GDP is generated in the Atlantic Forest. The area now shelters the largest industrial and silvicultural centers of Brazil, and the most populous urban centers. Most of the natural ecosystems have already been eliminated. During the last three decades, there have been severe alterations in the biome, including fragmentation of the habitat and loss of biodiversity, with species exterminated locally. The vast majority of the animals and plants threatened with extinction in Brazil are represented in the Atlantic Forest. The major threats to the Atlantic Forest in the corridors today are logging, poaching and animal trading; urban and industrial development; and deforestation driven by agriculture and expansion of pasture land.

Deforestation

Deforestation in Bahia began with commercial exploitation of brazil-wood and expanded due to agriculture and cattle grazing. The Brazil-wood was originally used in charcoal production, but more recently as building material for homes. Coffee and Eucalyptus plantations and cattle pastures are the predominant land uses in the region. Despite legal protection, the deforestation rate in southern Bahia was greater in the early 1990s than in the 1980s.

The human settlements resulting from the Land Reform Law in southern Bahia have coincided, disastrously, with forested areas in the region. Although areas deforested as a result of these policies are comparatively small, such areas are often of great ecological importance. Rural incentives have also contributed to deforestation. The "Pro-cacau" program, for example, has led to the devastation of 215,000 hectares of native forest in southern Bahia because credit lines are offered to farmers without adequate consideration of environmental issues.

Forest remnants in the Espírito Santo highlands are in better condition, and under better protection, than those in the lowlands - largely due to the mountainous landscape, which makes exploitation difficult and expensive. However, forest remnants continue to decline, particularly in the tabuleiros region - lowlands covering 25 percent of the state. Satellite images from the SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation suggest higher rates of deforestation in 1996-2000.

The expansion of pastures in southern Minas Gerais has been a principal cause of environmental degradation in the region, affecting the native vegetation, soil, and aquatic systems and extending into all types of landscape. More recently, the widening of Fernão Dias highway has led to an increase in tourism in the Serra da Mantiqueira, causing various environmental problems.

The Paraíba do Sul basin was originally almost entirely covered by the Atlantic Forest; however, the original vegetation remains only in isolated patches in hilltops and other remote areas. Even so, the remaining forest is still subject to inordinate exploitation - according to the Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica, about 2,000 hectares of native vegetation were cleared in the region from 1990-'95.

The most intense deforestation in the Sate of Rio de Janeiro is now concentrated in some municipalities of Angra dos Reis, Carmo, Santa Maria Madalena, and Campos de Goytacases. Cattle ranchers and small landowners in the Serra do Mar Corridor contribute to deforestation through the extraction of timber for fence stakes and subsistence agriculture. This type of extraction activity is constant, widespread, and difficult to monitor, since extraction is selective and made in the interior of the fragments.

Logging

Although logging has been practiced for five centuries in Brazil, it has become especially intense in the past 30 years. In Bahia, for example, particularly with the movement of logging companies into southern Bahia from the devastated northern Espírito Santo. In 1990, the federal government banned logging in the Atlantic Forest; however, logging companies successfully lobbied the government to be allowed to continue operating if they adopted sustainability plans - but they have not necessarily followed the recommended technical process.

In 1985, logging companies extracted 225,000 cubic meters of wood in southern Bahia, nearly 75 percent of it illegally. In 1994, the Socio-Environmental Institute of Bahia (IESB) found that all logging companies with permits in this region were operating in areas supporting endangered primates. In 2001, 315 approved management plans were evaluated by an expert committee, and only 32 were considered adequate. Furthermore, logging companies, legal or not, remain active in southern Bahia, showing clear expansion from 2000-2001.

Intensive Land Use

At the start of the 19th century, coffee was a cash crop in Minas Gerais. Cultivation of coffee spread throughout the Zona da Mata and the Serra da Mantiqueira. Coffee plantations expanded through the forests, but were cultivated in foothills between mountain ranges, restricting native forests to hilltops. However, the uneven land and unsustainable cultivation techniques caused serious erosion and soil depletion. Coffee plantations then gave way to pastures, which extended to the hilltops, fragmenting forest remnants.

In Espírito Santo, coffee is a major source of income, and plantations represent a serious threat to the forest. In the 1960s, when the coffee industry was affected by declining prices, cattle grazing emerged as an alternative, causing new and extensive deforestation in the state; today, pastures occupy 50 percent of the area once used for agriculture. Proportionally, this is the state most intensely devastated. Pastures, coffee, and Eucalyptus monoculture replace today most of the area previously covered by Atlantic Forest.

Grazing is also one of the most intensive land uses in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and fires are used to clear pastures. More than 1.8 million head of cattle occupy the region, grazing on 19,300 square kilometers (44.5 percent) of the Rio de Janeiro territory, and represent some 30 percent of the rural production. Land use in the Paraíba Valley is very intensive and diversified, with cultivations of corn, potato, bean, manioc, and banana. These are all low-yield crops, but they impede forest regeneration and involve the use of fire. Intentional fires to clear pastureland have also caused extensive damage along the frontier between Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro states.

Of the 2-7 percent of the original Atlantic Forest remaining in the Central Corridor, nearly 80 percent is in remnants owned by cocoa farmers. Cocoa has been cultivated in this area since the 19th century, occupying 600,000 hectares in 1992. Of this, nearly 70% was maintained as cabruca, a system where cocoa trees are cultivated in the shadowed environment of the forest. Even though these areas support a low diversity of species compared to the pristine environment, the cabruca system is less damaging than deforestation and can support reasonable levels of biodiversity. A cabruca ecosystem can even function as a corridor, expanding or connecting original habitats of threatened species, and, when abandoned, its biodiversity tends to increase over time, eventually approaching the level of a native forest. Farmers with large properties (averaging 1,430 hectares) cleared about 67 percent of their land to sell the timber from the cabruca. Farmers in southern Bahia have converted up to 45 percent of their cabruca to pastures or other uses.

Monoculture planting of Eucalyptus began in Espírito Santo in the 1960s and in Bahia in the 1980s. By 1995, some 173,000 hectares in Espírito Santo - almost 4 percent of the state's land area - were occupied by this crop; recently, further plantations of Eucalyptus were outlawed in the state. Conditions in Bahia, meanwhile, are ideal: perfect edaphoclimatic characteristics; a tradition of logging; low costs of land, personnel, energy, and taxes; and the world's lowest production costs. In 20 years, Eucalyptus monocultures in southern Bahia have already consumed 313,000 hectares. The cellulose industry continues to expand operations in extreme southern Bahia, and the Eucalyptus plantations dominate the landscape in this portion of the Central Corridor.

Urban Expansion and Industrialization

Increasing human presence near forested areas is a constant threat to biodiversity, mostly due to small-scale extraction activities such as hunting, collecting ornamental and medicinal plants, capturing songbirds and ornamental birds, and poaching. Serious water pollution from untreated sewer emissions, intentional embankment of lakes, and deforestation of mangroves and restingas are also common effects of urban expansion in this area. Fire - including campfires and accidental forest fires - also hampers reforestation efforts.

Coastal forests in particular are threatened by intensifying and poorly planned development. The Espírito Santo coastline extends for 411 kilometers and drains 12 river basins. Coastal development has caused occupation or destruction of fragile ecosystems; pollution of rivers and beaches by industrial, municipal, and human waste; and deforestation. Additional urban and industrial projects are planned in the restingas of Espírito Santo.

The Rio-São Paulo region is the most industrialized in the country, and the pollution produced in the area often results in acid rain over the forest remnants. The Paraíba do Sul basin is today one of the most industrialized areas of Brazil. The São Paulo portion of the basin, for example, has 2,730 industrial sites, which account for 10 percent of the nation's exports. The central Paraíba region, with its high concentration of industrial sites, is the most heavily polluted.

Fuelwood Harvesting

Most of the wood extracted in Espírito Santo is used as firewood or charcoal. Today, much of the wood used as an energy source is wood rejected by the cellulose industry; yet this is not enough to meet the demand for firewood for residential heating, and the Santa Maria and Jucu Rivers, for example, are still under intense deforestation pressure as a result.

Low income has been one of the major factors in the use of firewood in forest regions in Rio de Janeiro. In the past, exploitation of forests for charcoal production has been a serious problem in the state.

Slash-and-Burn Clearing

This has been a serious and constant threat to the Atlantic Forest in Espírito Santo. In the Caparaó National Park and 10 adjacent counties, 485 fires were detected by satellite imaging in September 2001. These fires destroyed dozens of hectares of native forest, as well as pastures. Nevertheless, the area authorized for controlled burning has increased; in 2000, for example, the area increased by 40 percent from the previous year. Both the number of permits - mostly for clearing for sugarcane plantations and cattle pastures - and the number of fines for illegal burning have increased.

Subsistence Agriculture

Agriculture occupies 9.4 percent of the total area of Rio de Janeiro state, but the land use is far from homogeneous. Subsistence agriculture is practiced by a social segment closely associated with the forest remnants, the practice of polycultivation, and use of fallow and coivara, allowing the vegetation to grow back to a certain point and then setting fire to increase soil fertility. Many Atlantic Forest remnants are surrounded by small properties where these practices are common.

Palm Heart Poaching

In the municipalities of Resende and Itatiaia, illegal extraction of palm heart trees is now a serious problem. Organized gangs invade and camp in the forest, transport the palm hearts, and process and sell the product. In a few days, poachers can cut down thousands of palm trees, extract the heart of palm, and pack it for transportation. Even local communities, accustomed to traditional exploitation of the forest, usually mobilize against the poaching, helping local authorities to curb the illegal trade.

Degradation of Mangroves and Restingas

The deforestation also threatens the associated ecosystems of Atlantic Forest, such the mangroves and restingas. The restinga consists of all kinds of plant formations occurring in the littoral zone, and includes beaches and dunes. With its sandy soils, it is highly vulnerable to anthropogenic impact. A large percentage has already been cleared for mining, real estate development, and agriculture. Restinga vegetation is generally smaller and lower in height than other types of forest in the region, making it a prized source of timber and of firewood for homes or small industries.

Invasion of mangrove areas, particularly by poor families looking for a place to live, is common in Espírito Santo. Wood is extracted from the mangroves to build homes, fish traps, and shrimp nurseries, and for firewood. The use of mangrove trees for firewood is increasingly popular due to the rising price of bottled gas. Mangroves are also exploited for tannin, widely used in pottery and to dye and protect fishing nets. The bark of Rhizophora mangle is the richest known source of tannin; the bark is often removed haphazardly, causing the plant to desiccate and die.

Poaching and Animal Trading

Wild animal trade is the third-biggest illegal trade in the world, now on the order of $10 billion per year, of which $1 billion is derived from the Brazilian market alone. The volume of illegal animal trade doubled in Brazil from 1996-2000 and it is estimated that 50 million animals were trapped during this period - i.e., 10 million animals per year. Wildlife trade affects more than 200 Brazilian species directly; of these, 171 - including at least 88 endemic birds - are officially threatened.

In Brazil, the animals are exploited in local fairs, and many are typical species from the Atlantic Forest. A 1998 study identified 174 species of Brazilian fauna being exploited commercially in Bahia alone. In February 2000, an operation by IBAMA in Bahia rescued 2,000 wild animals illegally held in captivity - including threatened species, such as capuchin monkeys and golden lion tamarin.

In 1999, Espírito Santo was one of the leading states in number of penalties applied to poachers and people who collect or mantain wild animals in captivity. In 2000, the environmental police of Espírito Santo rescued about 6,000 wild animals in illegal captivity, and in the first quarter of 2001 the number exceeded 2,000 animals.

Hunting has also contributed to the decline of fauna in the Una Biological Reserve and adjacent areas in Bahia. In recent interviews, 42 percent of local residents admitted to hunting, and 66% reported that game animals are becoming less abundant in the region. Small farmers hunt more often than large farmers, because they have more acute subsistence needs.

Although not practiced on a large scale, sport hunting has also been a problem, as it contributes to local extinction. This kind of hunting is greatly selective, and hunting areas in Espírito Santo are small and highly fragmented,so hunting poses a serious threat to small populations of hunted animals there. Animals like the solitary tinamou, for example, are threatened by selective hunting as well as by habitat loss.

Infrastructure

Roads divide biomes and isolate many animals in fragmented habitats, not only as a result of clearing, but also due to road kills and pollution caused by traffic. Many highways and roads cross the Serra do Mar and Serra da Mantiqueira; many, notably in southern Minas Gerais, have been built without necessary environmental impact reports, and many are left unfinished, leaving adjacent areas vulnerable to severe erosion. The opening of the federal highway BR-101 in 1973 greatly intensified the devastation in southern Bahia.

Mining

In the Serra do Mar Corridor; extraction of sand, clay, and granite (from hillsides)causes deforestation, erosion, flooding, and silting of rivers and streams - particularly in the restingas and beaches of Região dos Lagos. The extraction of sand from the Paraíba River has lowered the riverbed, draining smaller tributaries, and rendering agricultural areas unviable. The damage is usually intense, destroying the vegetation along the river to an extent that makes regeneration nearly impossible.

Dams

Dams are also a potential threat. The Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais and private investors plan to build 15 new hydroelectric dams in southern Minas Gerais, promising energy in abundance and stimulating further urbanization. It is estimated that 20,000 new businesses will be launched in this region in the next few years.

Tourism Development

Vacation homes and tourist accommodations are a direct threat to precious forest remnants in Rio de Janeiro, particularly because outstanding landscapes are selected for such enterprises, and because exotic plant species are often introduced to change the surrounding landscape. Suppression of the understory forest, introduction of exotic tree species, impoundment of streams and creeks, trail construction, and feeding of wildlife disrupt the integrity of the affected forest fragments.

The northern coast of the São Paulo state extends for 161 kilometers, encompassing 164 beaches and 17 islands, receiving about one million visitors in the peak season (January and February). The city of Caraguatatuba - the most populous, with approximately 80,000 people - receives some 500,000 tourists in the summer, generating about $20 million in revenue, or 25 percent of the city's annual budget. The largest areas of continuous deforestation along the northern coast coincide with real estate enterprises in the area. Untreated sewage pollutes the beaches, and the construction of vacation homes, hotels, resorts, and other amenities creates additional pressure on the Atlantic Forest.

Introduction of Alien Species

Apiculture involving alien species, particularly Apis mellifera, often interferes with the ecology of native bees and threatens dozens of native bee species. Riparian fish hatcheries also threaten biodiversity in the area, since exotic species often occupy the niches of native species. At least 16 exotic fish species are thought to be present in the rivers of the Paraíba do Sul valley. In highland areas, trout are intentionally released in estuaries, or escape from trout farms, and compete with native species.

Many domestic animals are intentionally released in the forest by their owners, sometimes displacing or competing with local species. This seems to be the case, for example, with the tamarin Callithrix jacchus- native to the northeast, but now occurring in Rio de Janeiro and competing with the threatened and endemic golden lion tamarin ( Leontopithecus rosalia.

The adaptation power of ornamental plants introduced on properties near forest remnants makes them potentially threatening to native flora. This is the case, for example, with Impatiens balsamica, an exotic species colonizing the banks of of streams and creeks. There is also a proliferation of exotic tree species, such as almond trees, casuarina, and leucena - highly resistant species with great capacity for dispersal. Cultivation of these trees around lagoons has threatened mangroves as a result of competition for sunlight.

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