Emergy Synthesis 9, Proceedings of the 9th Biennial Emergy Conference (2017)

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9

Emergy Diagnosis of Land-Use Change and Recovery Proposal for

an Area in the Brazilian Cerrado

Luz Selene Buller, Enrique Ortega, Gustavo Bayma-Silva, Ivan Bergier

ABSTRACT

Recently, most specifically since the 1990’s, Brazil has consolidated its participation in the agricultural

commodities market, especially, beef and soybean. This status was achieved through several government

development programs established since the 1970s in order to expand the agricultural frontier into the

Cerrado biome. The Brazilian role in the global commodities market was carried out at the expense of

massive deforestation of the Cerrado what had led to significant biodiversity and ecosystem services

losses. This work offers São Gabriel do Oeste, a typical agricultural municipality in the Cerrado, land-

use changes diagnosis since the 1960s, when there was a predominance of native forest, up to the

present, when the landscape is dominated by monocultures and cultivated pastures. Deforestation

pressure, accompanied by the increased use and dependence on fossil resources, is reflected in the

emergy indicators from the 1960s to the current decade: %Ren drops from 94% to 26%; ELR, from 0.06

to 3; EYR, from 16 to 2 and EIR rises from 0.06 to 2. All emergy indicators show a drastic reduction in

sustainability and a major inefficiency in the use of resources along the expansion of agriculture. This

assessment was complemented with a recovery proposal of the native vegetation through the adoption

of agroforestry systems. The proposal is designed to gradually expand agroforestry aiming to recover

ecosystem services and biodiversity, while maintaining the productivity and profitability to farm owners.

For a full adoption of agroforestry systems %Ren reaches 81%, ELR drops to 0.23, EYR and EIR are,

respectively, 7 and 0.17.

INTRODUCTION

Due to the agricultural expansion over the Cerrado biome that covers 24% of the country’s total

territory, Brazil plays an important role in the global commodities market. The Brazilian ascendance is

particularly important in soybean and beef; the last accounted for more than 15% of the global production

in 2013 (FAO, 2015). Currently, forty three percent (43%) of the whole Cerrado biome, that includes

twelve (12) states, is occupied by anthropic uses. Deforestation for cattle pastures and monocrops was

especially intense in the Mato Grosso do Sul State in the Pantanal wetland border, where only 31% of

the native vegetation is preserved. On one hand, this expansion is encouraged by governmental policies

like the most recent agricultural frontier in the Cerrado, Figure 1, called MaToPiBa (expansion over the

states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia) for monocrops and cattle ranching. On the other hand,

there is a huge international pressure for the reduction of deforestation rates, greenhouse gas (GHG)

emissions and other negative externalities associated to the agriculture. This challenge is complex

considering that Brazilian higher GHG emissions are due to cattle production (Lapola et al., 2014).

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The agricultural land areas designated to livestock production, including soybean for animal feed

purposes and pastures for cattle grazing, are estimated in 75% of the total agricultural areas in the world

(Cassidy et al., 2013). In the final accounting, 36% of the calories produced by agriculture are used for

animal feed. In Brazil, this value reaches 41% of the caloric production and soybean production responds

for 28% of the total calories produced (Cassidy et al., 2013). Along with this, the population growth and

the access to diets richer in meat proteins, milk and processed food, by virtue of market and food industry

pressures associated to protein higher economic aggregated value, creates a Food Security weakness as

shown in Figure 2. Red meat production overcomes the human need for a balanced diet for more than

five (5) fold-times and lack of other indispensable nutritional groups.

Figure 1. Brazilian biomes and MaToPiBa agricultural frontier in the Cerrado. Source: (Horvat et al.,

2015).

Figure 2. Nutritional demand vs. availability of food in the world. Adapted from:

www.pablotittonell.net/2015/06/enough-food-for-everyone/.

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A solution to reduce environmental impacts of deforestation, GHG emissions, soil and water

contamination and biodiversity loss is the substitution of monocrops and extensive cattle systems, highly

dependent on fossil fuel and external inputs, in degraded and monotonous landscapes, for agroforestry

systems that allows the agroecosystem´s resilience (Power, 2010; Tittonell, 2014). A systemic evaluation of the current Cerrado’s agricultural systems based on intense consumption

of chemical inputs, fertilizers, patented seeds produced by North American and European incorporations,

requires a robust sustainability assessment method that involves ecological and economic aspects, as it

is the case of the Emergy Synthesis. Beyond the emergy diagnosis of the agricultural expansion, in the

last four decades, in a Cerrado’s municipality, representative of the intense deforestation and soybean-

cattle model, this work evaluates ecological production systems that reincorporates tree element in the

agroecosystem and produces diversified human food. The result of this research can provide subsidies

for sustainable development and for public policies formulation to regulate the expansion of the new

agricultural frontiers in Cerrado biome.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Study Area

São Gabriel do Oeste, a municipality in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Figure 3, is a representative

case of the Cerrado’s land-use changes. From 1984 until 2014, crops expanded from 25% to 33% of the

total municipality area, cultivated pastures increased its area from 17% to 39% and native forest area

decreased from 57% to, only, 28%.

Figure 3. São Gabriel do Oeste land use changes in 3 decades. Landsat 5 image for 1984 (April) and Landsat 8 image for 2014 (July), acquired from U.S. Geological

Survey - Earth Explorer (http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/). Interactive land-use maps for 1984, 1994,

2004 and 2014 are available on: http://geoinfo.cnpm.embrapa.br/maps/1646/view.

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Currently, 72% of São Gabriel do Oeste native vegetation was deforested for anthropogenic uses.

In the central region, during the 70’s, there had been massive deforestation for coffee, which was

succeeded by soybean monocultures in the 80’s. From the 1990´s intensive swine was developed in the

monocultures region, mainly to absorb the corn production that succeeds soybean in the rainy season

and according to the agricultural calendar. Swine intensification brought the associated problem related

to the large manure production and its destination. In addition, there was intense replacement of the

natural savannah by cultivated pastures for cattle grazing.

Emergy Assessment

This study used the accounting for additional services (Figure 4), which correspond to flows for

mitigation of agricultural negative externalities, as well as the partial renewability was used for all input

items in the system (Ortega et al., 2005). The temporal emergy assessment of agricultural expansion was carried out since the 1960s, when

the anthropic use was just beginning until the present decade, from the observed land-use changes in

ten-year periods. The Emergy evaluation of agroforestry systems was performed with a starting point in

the current dominant system in the municipality. Because of the utter proposed change in the agricultural production and social organization, this

study presents the analysis of steps considering the gradual adoption of agroforestry systems. It could

occur with the adoption for only a few producers in a specific percentage of the municipality area up to

the full adoption of the system by all farms in the complete territory. The percentages considered were

20%, 30%, 50%, 70% and 80%. The last value, 80%, includes the 20% of "native vegetation cover, as a

legal reserve, without prejudice to the application of the rules on Permanent Preservation Areas",

according to the Brazilian Forest Code.

In both cases, input flows used are shown in Table 1. The corresponding flows for each decade

considered were calculated according to the land cover and agricultural technology based on literature

(see Buller, 2016 for detailed information) and field data (Buller et al., 2015).

Figure 4. General emergy diagram for agricultural systems including additional services.

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Table 1: Input flows for the emergy assessment. Natural resources

Renewable R1 Solar radiation R2 Wind (kinetic energy) R3 Rain (chemical potential) R4 Geological uplift R5 Atmospheric nitrogen R6 Wellwater

Non-renewable N Soil loss

Economy resources

Materials Agricultural inputs M1 Herbicides / Pesticides / Insecticides M2 Transgenic or certified seeds M3 Drugs and vaccines

M4 / M5 / M6 Phosphorus (synthetic), Nitrogen (synthetic), Potassium (synthetic) M7 Limestone M8 Swine feed

Building M9 Cement M10 Steel

Electric power motogenerator M11 Copper M12 Cast iron M13 Steel M14 Lubricant M15 Aluminum alloy

Biodigester M16 PVC

Fertigation system M17 Cast iron M18 Steel M19 PVC

Organic compound production M20 Steel

Storm water collection system M21 PVC

Other M22 Calves M23 Steel (agricultural machinery) M24 Fuel (agricultural machinery)

Services (S1) Labor

Additional services SA1 CH4 emissions SA2 N2O emissions SA3 C_CO2 emissions SA4 NH3 emissions SA5 Infiltration of contaminants SA6 Excess of nutrients

The agroforestry system assumed here is composed only of native species (no exotic species are

considered). It implies the replacement of monocultures by elements of several other functional groups,

namely: fruit and honey species, fodder and timber. Another assumption is the association with pig

production in quasi-wild state (Rugani et al., 2011). Also, the proposed agroforestry system should allow

the coexistence of poultry and dairy cattle, vegetable belts and associated production of beans and

cassava, among other food items that could be destined to self-consumption and/or local exchanges. For

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the region of pastures, an association of it with trees (also from various functional groups) was assumed.

These assumptions are simplifications of how to associate different functional groups in an

agroecosystem based on literature information regarding agroforestry systems in the Cerrado (see Buller,

2016 for detailed information).

RESULTS and DISCUSSION

Agricultural Expansion

The expansion of conventional agriculture in São Gabriel do Oeste exerted great environmental

pressure due to its high dependence on non-renewable resources and the generation of negative

externalities (Figure 5). EYR analysis shows the distribution of the use of renewable natural resources

and non-renewable in relation to the use of economy resources.

EYR dismemberment in the fractions corresponding to the renewable (R / F) and non-renewable

resources (N / F) shows a drastic reduction in the use of renewable resources, and how the systems

became more dependent on non-renewable resources. The emergy investment ratio (EIR) demonstrates

the mobilization of all non-renewable economy resources necessary for the activities. Despite EIR can

show that there is a good local development associated to the economy and the system’s capacity to

compete with similar ones, it also shows the dependence on non-renewable external resources. This

dependence means that the system is not efficient to use renewable resources and thus contributes

negatively to the renewability. The use of synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified seeds and non-

renewable materials of the economy are reflected in this indicator, such as steel and polymers for the

construction of manure treatment systems as well as GHG emissions.

Figure 5. Emergy indicators for the agricultural expansion in São Gabriel do Oeste.

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Agroforestry systems

Agroforestry systems (SAF) expansion in larger extensions of the municipal territory reverses the

behavior of the agroecosystems’ emergy indicators as presented in Figure 6. The share of renewable and

non-renewable resources in the total emergy and its effects in system’s transformity shows that the

expansion of agroforestry systems generates less dependence on non-renewable resources. In the later

stages, the share of renewable resources exceeds the participation of non-renewable resources in the

composition of the total emergy used in more than 400%. EYR shows how SAFs are less dependent on

non-renewable resources compared to conventional systems.

The increasing in the emergy yield ratio is significant, since the non-renewable flows required by

systems are strongly reduced. The factor that most influences the higher EYR is the reduction of

economy resources use in general, including the negative externalities.

Emergy investment ratio, EIR, shows how SAFs are less dependent on non-renewable resources

and how the expansion of such systems makes them more efficient in the use of the required resources.

The use of external resources to the system can be interpreted as a local development leverage

mechanism, but high dependence on non-renewable external resources makes less renewable systems,

i.e., less sustainable, less adaptable and less resilient.

Figure 6. Emergy indicators for the agroforestry systems.

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Throughout the agricultural expansion in recent decades there has been productivity increases, but

those occurred at the expense of deforestation and chemical dependence that caused several ecological

changes. SAFs designed to be non-dependent on non-renewable inputs and integrated into the native

landscape, without additional deforestation, provide a greater diversity of outputs, including ecosystem

services. Although, there is a reduction in animal production, and this represents a reduction in the

calorific value, there is an increased production of other outputs that make up a healthy and balanced

diet, such as fruits, honey and nuts.

The adoption of agroforestry systems in 50% of the municipal territory does not change the energy

production of the system compared to conventional (Table 2). Agroforestry systems are more efficient

in energy conversion; therefore use less emergy while producing, practically, the same amount of energy

per year, in the same area, with a large diversity of food items.

Even more, the reliance on local renewable resources makes the system independent of external

factors (fossil crisis, market fluctuations) that can affect not only the prices of necessary resources, but

also their availability; furthermore, logically, this efficient use of local resources increases renewability,

therefore sustainability and resilience of agroecosystems.

Investments and political forces acting on the Cerrado’s deforestation

The role of public policies and investments (public and private) is shown in Figure 7. Agricultural

expansion have boosted the conversion of areas with high biodiversity into deforested areas, which

produce disservices and undesirable byproducts, (negative externalities and environmental impacts), as

well as shortage of diversified food in accordance with human needs by virtue of the concentration on

soybean/meat production.

The Cerrado’s agriculture was converted from traditional systems into modern technological ones

with high productivity and strong dependence on external inputs. Brazilian government had an inductive

role for national and international private investments, as its share in total investments over the four

decades of expansion was only 6% (Figure 8). Data for investments were collected from literature

(Mizumoto et al., 2009; Rada & Valdes, 2012).

Other than the environmental imbalanced condition and lack of diversified food, the commoditized

agriculture (soy-red meat based) is also becoming not profitable for producers along the last decades

(Figure 9a). This is especially important to understand the rural exodus and the exclusion of small

farmers of the economy loop.

On the other hand, agroforestry systems are prone to a better profitability after tree growth is

achieved (Figure 9b) and the diversified production assures incomes along the production year

preventing eventual breakages. Another positive aspect of agroforestry systems is the opportunity, for

small farmers, to sale fresh, healthy food items in local markets, such as organic and alternative market

places, for more demanding and conscious consumers.

Table 2. Energy produced by agroecosystems. Products 2010

(J.year-1)

50% agroforestry

(J.year-1)

80% agroforestry

(J.year-1)

Soybean 5.75E+15 2.87E+15

Corn 5.68E+15 2.84E+15

Swine 7.73E+14 7.25E+14 5.41E+14

Cattle 1.22E+15 6.50E+14 6.88E+14

Fruits 3.68E+15 5.88E+15

Honey 2.02E+14 3.23E+14

Wood 1.93E+15 3.08E+15

Nuts 6.76E+13 1.08E+14

TOTAL 1.34E+16 1.30E+16 1.06E+16

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Figure 7. Model of political forces acting on the Cerrado’s deforestation to promote commoditized

agriculture.

Figure 8. Investments in Cerrado´s agricultural expansion.

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Figure 9. Profitability for agroecosystems: a) during the agricultural frontier expansion for the main

commodities, b) estimated for agroforestry systems in temporal scale.

CONCLUSIONS The agricultural model adopted in the occupation of the Cerrado biome is unsustainable, causes

imbalances and attend the interests of a small part of the population: the agribusiness lobby, which

involves politicians and executives. Potential investments in agroforestry systems can leverage the restoration of essential ecosystem

services, set fair social conditions and ensure food security for the future generations. Forest recovery in agroecosystems is able to regenerate the production of ecosystem services and

food in quantity and quality to meet human needs. Even more, agroecosystems can fix the small and

medium producers in the land because of better income generation associated with the diversification of

items for sale, especially in nearby markets (local markets).

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The first author thanks Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES,

Brazil) for the scholarship. We kindly thank the support of São Gabriel do Oeste City Hall. Ministry of

Science and Technology / National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (MCTI /

CNPq, Brazil), grants 562441/2010-7 and 403161/2013-4, supported this work.

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