Published in:
02-08-2021
Large-scale Degradation of the Tocantins-Araguaia River Basin
Authors:
Fernando Mayer Pelicice, Angelo Antonio Agostinho, Alberto Akama, José Dilermando Andrade Filho, Valter M. Azevedo-Santos, Marcus Vinicius Moreira Barbosa, Luis Mauricio Bini, Marcelo Fulgêncio Guedes Brito, Carlos Roberto dos Anjos Candeiro, Érica Pellegrini Caramaschi, Priscilla Carvalho, Rodrigo Assis de Carvalho, Leandro Castello, Davi Borges das Chagas, Carine Cavalcante Chamon, Guarino Rinaldi Colli, Vanessa Salete Daga, Murilo Sversut Dias, José Alexandre Felizola Diniz Filho, Philip Fearnside, Wagner de Melo Ferreira, Diego Azevedo Zoccal Garcia, Tiago Kutter Krolow, Rodrigo Ferreira Kruger, Edgardo Manuel Latrubesse, Dilermando Pereira Lima Junior, Solange de Fátima Lolis, Fabyano Alvares Cardoso Lopes, Rafael Dias Loyola, André Lincoln Barroso Magalhães, Adriana Malvasio, Paulo De Marco Jr., Pedro Ribeiro Martins, Rosana Mazzoni, João Carlos Nabout, Mário Luis Orsi, Andre Andrian Padial, Hasley Rodrigo Pereira, Thiago Nilton Alves Pereira, Phamela Bernardes Perônico, Miguel Petrere Jr., Renato Torres Pinheiro, Etiene Fabbrin Pires, Paulo Santos Pompeu, Thiago Costa Gonçalves Portelinha, Edson Eyji Sano, Vagner Leonardo Macedo dos Santos, Paloma Helena Fernandes Shimabukuro, Idelina Gomes da Silva, Lucas Barbosa e Souza, Francisco Leonardo Tejerina-Garro, Mariana Pires de Campos Telles, Fabrício Barreto Teresa, Sidinei Magela Thomaz, Livia Helena Tonella, Ludgero Cardoso Galli Vieira, Jean Ricardo Simões Vitule, Jansen Zuanon
Published in:
Environmental Management
|
Issue 4/2021
Log in
Abstract
The Tocantins-Araguaia Basin is one of the largest river systems in South America, located entirely within Brazilian territory. In the last decades, capital-concentrating activities such as agribusiness, mining, and hydropower promoted extensive changes in land cover, hydrology, and environmental conditions. These changes are jeopardizing the basin’s biodiversity and ecosystem services. Threats are escalating as poor environmental policies continue to be formulated, such as environmentally unsustainable hydropower plants, large-scale agriculture for commodity production, and aquaculture with non-native fish. If the current model persists, it will deepen the environmental crisis in the basin, compromising broad conservation goals and social development in the long term. Better policies will require thought and planning to minimize growing threats and ensure the basin’s sustainability for future generations.