ANTHROPIC PROCESSES AND LAND-USE CHANGE IN NORTHERN AMAZONIA: PARADIGM OF NON-SUSTAINABILITY

We analyzed land use patterns and changes in the central region of Roraima, northern Brazil, testing the hypothesis that the anthropic pressure based on the conversion of natural vegetation on agriculture and pasture, has led to the decline of forest resilience, and has not promoted development in lands converted in agricultural colonization projects, a process exacerbated by practices of burning. Satellite images from between 1984 to 2017, and geoprocessing techniques were used and revealed that 39.3% reduction in natural non-forest vegetation types exceeded that of forest loss (23.8%). The deforestation and transitions of land to non-conservation uses did not lead to a system with highly productive agricultural practices, but to extensive impoverished, and degraded subsistence, due to the basic unsuitability of the region´s extremely acidic/dystrophic soils on which settlements have been founded, and the predominance of low-tech, family-based, agriculture and the absence of the required technology for attaining better results.