Question

What is the major cause of defrosting in Brazil

Answer 1

Do you mean deforestation? If so — the single largest cause of deforestation in Brazil (especially the Amazon) is conversion of forest to pasture for cattle ranching.

Key drivers, roughly in order of importance:
- Cattle ranching: historically the biggest direct driver — estimates commonly put pasture conversion at around 60–80% of cleared area in the Amazon.
- Commercial agriculture: large-scale soy production is a major direct and indirect driver (direct clearings plus displacement effects that push ranching into new areas).
- Smallholder/slash-and-burn agriculture: important locally and cumulatively significant.
- Logging and illegal timber extraction: opens the forest and facilitates further clearing.
- Infrastructure, mining and hydro projects: roads, mines and dams fragment forest and catalyze settlement and clearing.
- Fire: both used intentionally to clear land and as an amplifying factor in drought years.

Underlying enablers include weak enforcement, land-grabbing, economic incentives for cattle and commodity expansion, and policies that have at times relaxed protections.