O impacto das grandes monoculturas no cerrado do Estado de Goiás: uma avaliação ambiental e jurídica da cana-de-açúcar

Abstract

Fossil fuels contribute the Largest share of the world's energy supply, but environmental impacts and their finite (non-renewable) nature are issues of concern. Ethanol is a type of bioenergy produced from the fermentation of corn, sugar cane and other crops rich in starch or sugar, with Brazil being one of the leading producers. Even though ethanol production has enormous advantages, it has a major land use change challenge, with direct and indirect land use changes associated with ethanol production. The objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental impacts of sugarcane cultivation in the State of Goiás, in a direct analysis of the transformation of the landscape over a period of 35 years (1985-2020), with an emphasis on the reuse of areas already modified áreas and the rate of loss and transformation of natural areas, in contrast to established conservation areas. Supporting bibliographic research (environmental and legal), documents and the use of GIS tools was carried out to characterize temporal changes in the environment in the time frame from 1985 to 2020. The results point to a strong transformation in land use in the State of Goiás, with three distinct panoramas: a) areas previously of agricultural use (south and southeast) that began to be aggressively used by monocultures (soybeans and sugar cane); b) areas surrounding large metropolises where space occupation follows other standards; c) border areas, where previously there were the highest rates of landscape preservation and which also aggressively transitioned to pasture use. The crisis in the sugar and alcohol sector at the end of the 1980s and its resurgence at the end of the 1990s is very well represented, where the growth rates of planted areas exceed those of soybeans or other agricultural commodities. There is an area of resurgence of sugar cane in the south and southeast, concomitant with the transformation of natural areas into pastures in the west and northwest of the State of Goiás. Comparatively, the resurgence of sugar cane is much more pronounced than the growth of other agricultural commodities. Both SNUC and SEUC do not guarantee expressive and connected areas of Cerrado fragments. The fragility of environmental legislation to deal with the topic in focus is characterized