Environmental indicators and land-use change in the Amazon-Cerrado-Pantanal transition zone of Cáceres, Mato Grosso: a Pressure-State-Response assessment

Abstract

This study analyzes the environmental indicators of the municipality of Cáceres, Mato Grosso, a territory that encompasses portions of three major Brazilian biomes: Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal. Due to its location at the convergence of these biomes, Cáceres represents an ecologically sensitive mosaic where land-use pressures interact with fragile transitional dynamics. The methodology combined a systematic literature review with geotechnological analysis based on data from the MapBiomas Project and Landsat images (1985–2022), integrated into the Pressure-State-Response model. The biome figures reported here refer to the fraction of each biome contained within the municipal boundary, not to the biomes in their entirety. Anthropic conversion was highest in the Amazon portion (57.8% of its area), followed by the Cerrado (33.8%) and the Pantanal (16.5%). Under a continuation of recent trends, the Amazon portion remains within the range that biome-scale studies associate with severe ecological degradation. The multivariate analysis identified cattle ranching, rather than crop expansion, as the driver whose annual dynamics most closely track native-vegetation loss. The institutional responses identified in this study encompass federal, state, and municipal legislation in environmental, economic, and social dimensions, including the Forest Code, Climate Change Policies, and specific measures for fisheries. However, gaps in implementation were revealed, particularly at the local scale. These results demand the development of integrated local environmental planning capable of articulating effective institutional responses to the ongoing environmental pressures.

Keywords: biomes, deforestation, environmental indicators, environmental planning, land use.