Who degraded the Amazonian forests? Comparison of the influence of Brazilian environmental policies on forest degradation.

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20H04427
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 80010:Area studies-related
• Research Institution: Fukui Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: ISHIMARU Kanae 福井県立大学, 学術教養センター, 教授 (00572471)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 光安 光江 浜松学院大学, 現代コミュニケーション学部, 教授 (30619317) ; 舛方 周一郎 東京外国語大学, 世界言語社会教育センター, 講師 (40734538) ; 吉川 沙耶花 長崎大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (60785492)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: アマゾン / 森林減少 / 環境政策 / 小農 / 食糧の安全保障 / アグリビジネス / コモディティ / 衛星画像解析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project aims to examine whether the regime change in Brazil had impacted the Amazon forest loss, during the period of left-wing administration to the right-wing Bolsonaro administration. Under the right-wing government, both large-scale and small-scale forest clearance had increased. This is supposed to be the right-wing government's ignorance about the environment and the weakening of illegal logging surveillance due to the coronavirus, which gave both small- and large-scale farmers to expand their farmland. Municipalities where large-scale logging is observed have produced commodity crops for exportation. Vice versa, products of the small-scale farmers were likely distributed to close areas from the production place.

Free Research Field

森林科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

アマゾンの森林減少はブラジル一国の問題ではなく、農作物・畜産物の輸入によって影響を与え、気候変動や気象異常の影響を受けるという面で他国も無関係ではない。諸国のコモディティ消費が国際市場を通して大規模な森林減少に影響していることは、社会的な環境への間接的な責任意識の向上に繋げることができると期待できる。この成果は大学生や一般向けの著書として刊行を予定している。