The Unsustainable Use of Natural Resources in the State of Goiás: Effects of agriculture in the conservation of the Cerrado biome

Abstract

Until the mid-twentieth century, the viability of agricultural practices in Goiás depended on favorable natural soil conditions. Forests, such as “Mato Grosso de Goiás”, were subject to intensive use by different societies throughout history. After the Green Revolution in the 1970s, the notion of "natural fertility of the soil" lost the importance it held for the viability of agricultural projects. New agronomic techniques were employed for the development of natural areas, allowing other ecosystems to be incorporated into the production system. Thus, the Cerrado, in its strictest sense, which occurs in low fertility soils, became the target of deforestation in Goiás. This model of occupancy, which preferably destroys a unique type of ecosystem, threatens the conservation of natural areas that are large enough to house viable populations of wildlife and ecosystem representativeness. Keywords: “Cerrado” biome, agriculture, nature conservation