ESTIMATION OF THE INCREASE IN DEFORESTATION CLUE TO AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL ACTIVITIES IN THE BRAZILIAN WESTERN AMAZON - AN APPROACH BASED ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRODUCTION AND PRODUCTIVITY

This paper presents and discusses the evaluation results of the increa se in deforestation verified in the period of 1970 to 1990 in the Cruz eiro du Sul area, Acre State, in the Brazilian Western Amazon, based o n an analysis of the relationship between the production and the produ ctivity of the agricultural and pastoral (A&P) activities. The analysi s suggests a deforestation increase owing to the A&P activities linked to the rise in production without the necessary compensatory increase in productivity. The rise in deforestation was estimated and analysed through an equation based on the ratio between the rates of increase in production and productivity. Comparison of these estimates with mon itoring of the forest cover by satellite images presented differences of less than 5%. This suggests a good descriptive (diagnosis) and dyna mic (prognosis) potential of the proposed equation.