Patterns and impacts of deforestation in Rondônia, Brazil

Land development in the Brazilian Amazon has gone through phases of rubber extraction, agricultural development, immigration, road expansion, and promotion of large enterprises in cattle ranching, timber extraction and mining. Land development patterns in the western state of Rondonia provide a place to focus on rapid development and its effects. The expanding land-use activities in Rondonia have resulted in an increase in the human population and the rate of deforestation so that by 1993 about 25% of the forest area had been cleared. In Rondonia the main activities responsible for the deforestation are small farmers, cattle ranchers, miners and loggers. The implications of the Rondonia Natural Resource Management Project (PLANAFLORO), which is just now being implemented, are critical to the future of the environment and economy of the region.