This text aims to discuss research into physical geography in Brazil, taking as a reference the transformations of Brazilian geography, especially since the 1970s. Since then, important aspects have been seen in the transformation of physical geography: the rift with geography from the classical viewpoint in some sectors and the adherence to systemic analysis—a branch of analysis related to the study of nature, in its specificities—for the environmental issue, an environmental analysis from the perspective of managing territory on different scales. In this context, there is a wide range of sub-fields and topics engaged in research related to physical geography, studies of nature in its specificity, studies of environmental impacts (understood as impacts on nature), and proposals related to diagnosis and monitoring, based on spatial analysis (GIS) and model building. Within the critical social approach, Porto Gonçalves (Porto-Gonçalves CW (1989) Os (des)caminhos do Meio Ambiente. Contexto, São Paulo, 147 p) stands out as the precursor to the discussion of the environment in Brazilian geography; followed by the analyses of (Mendonça, São Paulo 1:113–132, 2001) identified as socio-environmental geography; the proposed re-signification by (Suertegaray, Espaço Geográfico Uno e Múltiplo. Scripta Nova, Barcelona, n. 93, 2001) of the concept of environment; and the proposed new geographic approach from Souza, which can be identified as environmental geography. Within the environmental issue, the critical perspective highlights the analysis of social processes and the commercial exploitation of nature, especially through the demands of an economically globalised world. Sometimes, it takes the concept of “production of nature” as a reference. More recently, these analyses have incorporated a dialogue with territorial conflicts on their different scales. The new approaches are structured around an environmental concept associated with social (environmental) justice and the dispute for territory, especially between the major investors (agribusiness, among others) and native and traditional populations. This range of approaches broadly expresses the production of contemporary Brazilian geography.
