Effects of environmental protection policies on fragile areas of a watershed occupied by agriculture in the Brazilian Cerrado

Brazil has become an antagonist in natural resource conservation policies in recent years. The Brazilian Cerrado is one of the biomes most affected by this setback due to the occupation of areas of economic interest in agriculture. Interestingly, there are projects throughout the biome that aim to encourage the preservation of natural resources, but there is uncertainty about whether these incentives have provided conservation. That is the case of the Feio River hydrographic basin, located in the Cerrado, near the city of Patrocinio, state of Minas Gerais. Indeed, the Feio River watershed has projects incentivizing the Cerrado's conservation. Thus, in this article, we aimed to explain how the advance of agriculture in fragile areas of the Feio river watershed occurs, their causes and whether protection strategies have produced satisfactory results. We used an old Environmental Fragility proposal methodwith our contributions to estimate the variations regarding nature conservation in the basin. Our findings show considerable heterogeneity in the potential fragility of the Feio's river basin. We observe that less fragile sites are used for coffee cultivation (74 and 72% of the two places), while more fragile sites are occupied by reserves (around 50% of the area) and high-impact activities such as traditional monoculture and cattle ranching (25 and 44% for the two sites). Temporally, we observed little change in use and occupation, with a slight increase in no-till farming to replace coffee and conventional cultivation. The permanent preservation areas in the basin have improved vegetation quality, while the reserve areas composed of fields show a degradation process. Considering the importance of the Feio's river basin, different incentives and inspection strategies are needed to guarantee the site's preservation and environmental restoration.

Automated summary

Brazil has played an antagonist role in natural resource conservation policies, especially in the Cerrado biome. Despite projects aimed at encouraging conservation, there is uncertainty about their effectiveness. This article focuses on the Feio River watershed in Minas Gerais and examines the advance of agriculture in fragile areas, causes, and the outcomes of protection strategies. The study reveals heterogeneity in the potential fragility of the basin and highlights the need for different incentives and inspection strategies to ensure preservation and restoration.