BRAZILIAN RAIN-FOREST COLONIZATION AND BIODIVERSITY

This work explains the tropical rain forest's main characteristics, and the reasons why this ecosystem plays an important role in determining global biodiversity. The occupation process of the two Brazilian tropical rain forests (Atlantic and Amazon) are briefly described, with quantitative information on deforestation and its consequences. Human presence in these areas is millenary, and its role as a source of increase, decrease and maintenance of biodiversity are exemplified. Different kinds of man/forest interactions (such as those characterizing indigenous people, riverside communities, caboclos, rubber tappers and agriculturists) and their relation to biodiversity, are described. The future occupation of the Brazilian tropical rain forest supplanting past mistakes, especially in the Amazon, is proposed as a triple challenge. The first challenge is to stop the destruction of the still-intact forest, and to plan its rational occupation. An example of how this has been done by rubber tappers in the state of Acre, and how it affects wildlife and vegetation communities is given. The second challenge is to reduce the migration flow towards the economic frontier areas, and to propose to the thousands of agriculturists already installed there alternatives to reconcile economic development and environmental preservation. In this case, the situation of a colonization project in the state of Rondonia is described. The third challenge is to restore the biodiversity in the almost 400 000 km2 of land that have been occupied and degraded for a long time, as in the state of Tocantins. An example of how scientific research contributes to meeting this challenge is described.