STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS ON THE TROPICAL RAIN-FOREST - THE CASE OF THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

The Brazilian Amazon deforestation has been responsible, in part, for the increasing concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere. In 1990, the a mount of carbon released to the atmosphere (as CO2) from Brazilian Ama zon deforestation was 3.5 % to 4.9 % and 250 % to 360 % of the World a nd Brazilian annual emission from fossil fuels, respectively. In fact, the forest removal is a major contributor to local, regional and glob al environmental changes. Today, the deforested lands account for an a mount superior to 430,000 Km(2). In addition to increase of the greenh ouse effect, the foreseeable consequences of deforestation are : losse s of the soil nutrients, surface erosion, decline in water percolation , evapo-transpiration and the annual pluviosity, losses in the biodive rsity, etc.. On the other hand, deforestation is halted and replaced w ith a rational forest management, a reuse of degraded lands for agro-f orestry and biomass production for energy and industrial purposes, we can reduce the pressure on forests lands and the net carbon flux will be reversed. In this paper, we argue the possibilities to achieve a su stainable biomass valorisation in the forest and degraded lands in Bra zilian Amazon, with a special interest in the job creation, the cost o f these strategies and their carbon flow.