Tropical forests, which comprise about half of the forested areas of the globe, play a central
role as far as climate and land use change (CLUC) is concerned. Deforestation and changes in natural
habitats of tropical forests have contributed significantly to emissions of greenhouse gases, particu-
larly in developing countries, where emissions from land use change are even higher than those
derived from combustion of fossil fuels. In addition, CLUC threatens the provision of environmental
services and biodiversity, being therefore detrimental to society under different scales, whether glo-
bal or local, while the subsistence of traditional populations is at stake. In the context of climate
change, the Amazon rainforest is responsible for releasing each year hundreds of millions of tons of
carbon into the atmosphere. Deforestation open clearings in the forest, making the incidence of solar
radiation more efficient, while global warming, in turn, contributes to the increasing susceptibility to forest fires. Thus, land use change and global warming act synergistically in the transformation of the Amazon Biome.
