Occurrence of fires in legally protected areas of the Cerrado biome (1999/2018)

Abstract

Despite the fact that the forest fires in Brazil occur naturally, they are also usually associated with the renewal of pastures and the cleaning of agricultural terrains, representing significant pressure towards the legally protected green areas. In this sense, this work’s proposal is to map, quantify and analyse the occurrence of the forest fires in legally protected areas of the Cerrado from 1999 to 2018, considering the Conservation Unities, the Indigenous Lands and the Quilombola Territory. In order to do this, forest fire sites were compilated from the Forest Fire Database, administered by the National Institute of Spatial Research. Afterwards, the data were collated, quantified and analysed according to the limits of the legally protected areas. The data presented in this work affirm that, from the total of 3,190,251 burning sites between 1999 and 2018 in the Cerrado, little more than 3% occurred within Integral Protection Conservation Unities; 5% within Sustainable Use Conservation Unities; 9,4% within Indigenous Lands; and 0,4% within Quilombola Territory, thus highlighting the agribusiness pressure on the legally protected areas.

Keywords: Fire; Forest fire; Conservation Unities; Indigenous Lands; Quilombola Territory.