annual growth (%)
annual growth (%)
annual growth (%)
Chapter 2: State and Trends
Table 2.4.1: Main crops, area harvested (km2 South America Crop 2005 Maize
Flexible crops
Sugar cane
2013
173616 240629 4 70258 116234
Soybeans 402346 529629 4 Oil palm Cocoa
Tropical crops
Coconuts Mangoes Rubber Bananas Coffee
Cereals
Oranges Wheat Rice
Source: FAO 2015b
areas deforested for that purpose. By 2012, the region had an estimated 1.01 million square kilometres devoted to agriculture and 3.59 million to pasture (Graesser et al. 2015). This expansion is associated not only with forests, but with other ecosystems such as grasslands. This is mainly the result of the specialization of the region in tropical and flexible crops for export while the area planted with cereals is decreasing.
Geographically, the expansion has been concentrated in the Southern Cone countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), particularly in the gran chaco, the Brazilian cerrado and the state of Mato Grosso in the legal Brazilian Amazon, where most of the available land is concentrated (Lambin et al. 2013). But other sensitive ecosystems, such
as the lowland forests of Caquetá-Putumayo (Colombia) and Petén (Guatemala) have also been affected (Graesser et al. 2015). Flexible crops and tropical commodities are responsible for this increase (Table 2.4.1). Large agricultural businesses dominate land expansion. Hotspots of change are not restricted to agricultural areas. Forest cover also exhibits areas of deforestation and the regrowth of woody vegetation (Aide et al. 2013).
Forests
In 2015, about 47 per cent of the land in the region had forest cover (FAO 2015c), mostly concentrated in South America (Table 2.4.2).
85
4164 11743 3440 1282 1215 8615
39125 10087 85488 60741
6686 6 3 1520 3 2005 2013
7 6835.4 0
13670 2 1835.1 3159 -1 1669
8439 0 1166.7 0
4419 6051.2 5836.3 0
108
1355.1 795.42 0.3
1358.9 2005 2013 2005 2013
4 84372.1 90391.8 0.9 262407 337072 -2 12198.1
13928 1.7 89292 135999
170 5.8 1920 0.6 0
0 1147.98 1820.96 5.9 403494 531450 1797.01 3209.94 7.5 6069.4 10066 764.78 1401.93 7.9
14343 16992
915.21 1.8 2132.98 2344.12 1.2 0.19 -5.5
630.69 1216.1 0.5 1989.41 2233.93 1.5 0
1896 1859.72 -0.2 6690.7 6377.6 4210 4928.4
962.26 5.4 1846.5 2482.4 11772
35564 -1 2702.2 2310.7 -1.9 16639.4 15913.9 -0.6 58466 9097 -1 599.59 382.82 -5.5 73102 -2 48347 -3
4094.9 4122.79 0.1 0 6413.23 6375.41 -0.1 3343.8 4195.2 2.9 3452.79 3052.64 -1.5
14781 91901 67537
11889 53788 13603 79477 55595
). Caribbean Mesoamerica TOTAL
Average annual growth (%)
3.2 5.4 3.5
6.5 2.1
-0.6 2
3.8 0.1 -1 -1
-1.8 -2.4
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