Análise da distribuição espaço-temporal das pastagens cultivadas no bioma Cerrado entre 1970 e 2006

In 2006, more than 34% of Cerrado biome was already converted to pastures, according to different spatial distribution patterns. This study aimed to analyze the expansion of cultivated pastures and cattle ranching in the Cerrado, between 1970 and 2006, based on historical studies, IBGE census data, and satellite imagery. To this end, former municipality boundaries were recon-structed, in relation to which, census data was spatialized. It could be observed that the amount of cultivated pasture increased up to the early 80’s, when agri-culture started to take over and pastures to be more intensively utilized. It was also noticed that the pastures expanded in different ways, regarding specific biome locations, soil quality, existent infrastructure, and the proximity to con-sumption markets. In this paper, we also considered pasture degradation, re-garding both their spatial patterns and geographical associations. Amounting at least 7% of the entire cultivated pasturelands, degraded pastures represent a major social, economic and environmental challenge to the biome sustainable development.