Reserve in Brazilian Amazon struggles as ‘aggressive’ deforestation spreads

When created in 2006, the Triunfo do Xingu Environmental Protection Area in the Brazilian Amazon was supposed to preserve the region’s rich biodiversity and nearby protected areas. Instead, the reserve has lost over 40% of its rainforest, and become a conduit for deforestation into nearby protected areas.

Now, satellite data and imagery indicate deforestation in Triunfo do Xingu is continuing to soar in 2024 — and is spreading into nearby protected areas.

The Triunfo do Xingu reserve encompasses some 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres) — an area more than half the size of Belgium — and sits in the verdant Xingu Basin, a biodiverse region home to 28 conservation areas and 18 Indigenous territories.

Within the reserve, landowners are allowed to clear up to 20% of their land, but must leave the remaining forest intact. But satellite data and imagery reveal a far higher rate of deforestation.

From 2006 to 2023, the reserve lost 41% of its primary (old growth) forest cover, according to the Global Forest Watch (GFW) platform. That’s equivalent to 617,000 hectares of forest, or 6,170 square kilometers (2,382 square miles).

Primary forest loss peaked in 2020, with nearly 70,000 hectares of forest destroyed. Deforestation declined somewhat in 2021 and 2022, but remained relatively high, with more than 50,000 hectares of forest lost each year. In 2023, deforestation dropped again, with 30,000 hectares lost that year.

But this year, clearing appears to have sped up again. From January to November deforestation alerts from the Global Forest Watch platform speckle the reserve, and are especially concentrated in its southern portion.

Triunfo do Xingu straddles the municipalities of Altamira and São Félix do Xingu, the heart of Brazil’s cattle country. Previous reporting by Mongabay found that cattle ranching has long been one of the primary drivers of deforestation in the reserve.

Landowners clear forest to expand existing holdings, or to shift to new areas when existing plots become unproductive. Most cleared land is turned into cattle pasture. Those familiar with the situation told Mongabay that most landowners don’t abide by the limits on how much can be cleared.

“Today, you will struggle to find a farm — large or small — that has preserved 80% of its forest,” a state official told Mongabay in 2023.

Typically, ranchers and farmers clear the forest by felling the trees, then burning the land during the dry season, between July and November. Those fires can quickly get out of hand and spread to neighboring areas, especially in drier years. Last year was particularly bad for fires, and this year looks to be even worse, with more than 2,700 fire alerts detected by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) — the highest number since measurement began in 2012, according to GFW analysis.

In the last few years, illegal mining and land grabbing have surfaced as growing threats in Triunfo do Xingu. Previous reporting by Mongabay found wildcat mines known as garimpos scattering across the reserve, with prospectors searching for gold and cassiterite. Land grabbers are also moving in, with hopes that one day their claims will be recognized.

“There are a lot of roads being opened up, and further into the reserve, we’re seeing a lot of garimpos,” an enforcement agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Mongabay in early 2023. “Since 2020, the clearing has become more aggressive and it’s less out in the open. It’s moved deeper into the reserve.”

When Triunfo do Xinguwas created in 2006, conservationists hoped it would shield other more strictly protected areas from exploitation. Instead, the opposite is happening.

Deforestation from reserve is bleeding into adjacent protected areas, including Serra do Pardo National Park. Satellite data and imagery from GFW show fires spreading from Triunfo do Xingu into the national park between August and October 2024

Another area of increasing concern to conservationists is the Terra do Meio Ecological Station, a strictly protected area where almost all human activity is prohibited. Satellite imagery and data visualized on the Global Forest Watch platform show fire and deforestation activity in Terra do Meio picking up towards the end of 2024, much of which appears to be bleeding across the boundary it shares with Triunfo do Xingu.

Invaders have also carved out an illegal road from Triunfo do Xingu, through Terra do Meio, and into Iriri State Forest, according to analysis by Rede Xingu+, a network of nonprofits monitoring deforestation in the Xingu Basin. Conservationists say that if the road is extended all the way to Novo Progresso, a deforestation hub, it would have devastating consequences.

“The impact would be enormous,” Ane Alencar, science director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, told Mongabay in 2023. “The consolidation of this route would be an attack on the heart of Terra do Meio.”

 

Banner image: A herd of cattle roams over a denuded Amazon. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

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