The intensification of cattle ranching in a particular area to boost its productivity was proposed by experts as a measure to reduce deforestation of new lands in the Amazon, but a new study shows that sometimes it can have the opposite effect.
In the Amazon, beef cattle ranching drive deforestation of the rainforest, and more than 60 per cent of the deforested area is used as pasture.
The current environmental legislation, the Brazilian Forest Code, allows land-owners to deforest 20 per cent of their private lands, so policies that promote the intensification of cattle ranching have been suggested as a viable option to reduce deforestation.
Read more at SciDev.Net
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