WHAT DOES THE SURGE IN AMAZON REGENERATION MEAN FOR BRAZIL?

New data from the TerraClass dataset reveals that tropical secondary vegetation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by over 70% between 2004 and 2014, growing from 10 million to more than 17 million hectares. This regrowth represents nearly a quarter of the total area ever cleared in the region. Despite this increase, Brazil's primary satellite monitoring systems, PRODES and DETER, are designed to track primary deforestation and do not capture tropical regrowth, leaving the phenomenon largely invisible in official deforestation rates. The document argues that this regeneration does not necessarily equal primary forest in biological or ecological terms and calls for rigorous analysis to determine how it interacts with the Brazilian Forest Code, carbon reduction goals, and land-use efficiency.

• Tropical secondary vegetation in the Brazilian Amazon grew by more than 70% between 2004 and 2014, increasing from 10 million hectares to over 17 million hectares.
• By 2014, tropical regeneration was occurring in approximately 25% of the total area that had been cleared throughout the history of the Brazilian Amazon.
• Brazil's satellite-based monitoring systems, PRODES and DETER, are unable to detect tropical regrowth because they only scan for clearing in areas that have never been cut down or operate within a 'deforestation mask' that is never reclassified.
• The increase in secondary vegetation may have implications for the Brazilian Forest Code, which requires the restoration of an estimated nine million hectares of illegally deforested land in the Amazon.
• Secondary forest development could assist Brazil in meeting its carbon reduction goals, including a target to restore or reforest 12 million hectares of forest nationwide by 2030.

APA

Assuncao, J., & Gandour, C. (2017). WHAT DOES THE SURGE IN AMAZON REGENERATION MEAN FOR BRAZIL? Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CPI_What_does_the_surge_in_Amazon_regeneration_mean_for-Brazil_Final.pdf

Chicago

Assuncao, Juliano, and Clarissa Gandour. WHAT DOES THE SURGE IN AMAZON REGENERATION MEAN FOR BRAZIL? Climate Policy Initiative, 2017. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CPI_What_does_the_surge_in_Amazon_regeneration_mean_for-Brazil_Final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Assuncao |first1=Juliano |last2=Gandour |first2=Clarissa |title=WHAT DOES THE SURGE IN AMAZON REGENERATION MEAN FOR BRAZIL? |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=June 2017 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CPI_What_does_the_surge_in_Amazon_regeneration_mean_for-Brazil_Final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{assuncao2017what, author = {Assuncao, Juliano and Gandour, Clarissa}, title = {{WHAT DOES THE SURGE IN AMAZON REGENERATION MEAN FOR BRAZIL?}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CPI_What_does_the_surge_in_Amazon_regeneration_mean_for-Brazil_Final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }