Environmental risk resulting from deforestation, and the potential for sustainable development in areas of Amazonian ecological micro-zoning. The case of the Alcobaça Reserve in the Tucuruí Lake region — Pará

Abstract

The present paper revolves around the results of a case study carried out in Alcobaça, a Sustainable Development Reserve located in the Brazilian state of Pará. The reserve in question was established following the construction of the Tucuruí dam, whose reservoir generated numerous islands and marginal areas occupied by local fishermen, collectors, hunters and caboclos, in a densely forested area.The study is focused on the issue of environmental degradation processes resulting from anthropogenic interference — in the case at hand, indiscriminate deforestation and its environmental consequences. Such clearings are the work of local people in order to clean the soil and occupy these areas for farming and housing purposes, but also to sell the timber to loggers. As a result, the forest is forced to recede while soil degradation increases on account of diminished tree protection. As soils are thick, they favor the development of gullies and cracks in sloping terrain.Key-words: deforestation, erosion, Pará, Sustainable Development Reserve.