The Brazilian Amazonia in Change II: Five Decades of Exploitation, Deforestation and Attempts at Sustainable Development

In the Brazilian planning region “Amazônia Legal”, deforestation of rain forests for the extraction of mineral resources, cattle breeding, soybean farming, transport infrastructure and hydropower plants was carried out without regard for the indigenous people and regional socio-ecological vulnerability. The implementation of damaging mega-programmes caused disastrous environmental problems. Large-scale destruction of biodiversity, rising temperatures and instability of precipitation not only pose a threat to the region, but also have global impacts on climate change. Over the last two decades, parts of Amazônia Legal have evolved from a CO2 sink to a source of CO2 emissions.