The Brazilian Atlantic Forest: occupation, death and protection of forest remnants and biodiversity

Abstract

Metropolitan dynamics totally remodel natural systems. Is it an inevitable process of destruction of the latter, or are there possibilities of socio-cultural and political co-existence? The Atlantic forest biome, formed by diverse forest ecosystems, is a long coastal area extending from south to northeast of Brazil, presenting a variable depth, reduced to a narrow coastal strip in the North and Northeast from the state of Amapá (AP) to the city of Salvador (BA), but entirely covering the States of Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, and wide stretches of the southernmost states. It is the most anthropized biome in the country. These coastal regions were the first occupied by the Portuguese colonization and are the areas where much of the economic cycles of the Brazilian history were developed and where, for that reason, the destruction of the nature has been more profound. Geographical factors such as the location and availability of natural resources, such as abundant wood, were favorable to the installation of the political and economic power centres, and these coastal areas became the site of construction of two of the former Brazilian capitals, the cities of Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. In the first half of the twentieth century this untouched ecosystem still covered the center-west of São Paulo State? and the north of Paraná State?. But historical, socio, cultural, and political factors contributed to its decay: the colonization and occupation of the coast and the progression of a pioneer front base on the development of agriculture, especially coffee plantations, caused the destruction of this dense vegetation. The logging activity, in particular, led to the conversion of the forest into an agricultural domain, where maize and wheat were first produced, and then soybeans. The use of timber? for construction, transported on railroads which later, served as a base for the industry of São Paulo, led to the near disappearance of this biome. It was also during this century that the installation of industry, concentrated in the areas near the city of Cubatão in Sao Paulo State, and the emission of polluting chemical substances in the air, constituted important factors for the destruction of the forest itself. Currently, there are only remnants of this biome usually on riverbanks or in hard-to-reach areas, and it covers less than 7% of its initial extension. Since the late 1970s, the notion of environmental protection gained global relevance and began to guide public policies around the world. This notion has also made promising advances in the national context because it has gained voice through the pressure from nongovernmental organizations such as SOS Mata Atlântica, ISA, WWF, Greenpeace. As a result, these remnants were declared a Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). Its conservation can nowadays rely on specific environmental legislation and biodiversity conservation policies that contribute to the fulfillment of the country's international commitment towards multilateral institutions. However, this coastal area simultaneously shelters, between the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, a region of intense urban-metropolitan dynamism which provokes conflicts of use of the territory. Are these reserves, and the group of protected areas of this biome, able to resist to the situation or would these fail to do so, which would lead to the final demise of these natural systems? Or would public actions articulated with those of society, allow the beginning of a new cycle?