The Brazilian Amazonia in Change II: Five Decades of Exploitation, Deforestation and Attempts at Sustainable Development (Biblioteca Luso-Afro-Brasileira)

In the Brazilian planning region “Amazônia Legal”, deforestation of rain forests for the extraction of mineral resources, cattle breeding, soybean farming, transport infrastructure and hydropower plants was carried out without regard for the indigenous people and regional socio-ecological vulnerability. The implementation of damaging mega-programmes caused disastrous environmental problems. Large-scale destruction of biodiversity, rising temperatures and instability of precipitation not only pose a threat to the region, but also have global impacts on climate change. Over the last two decades, parts of Amazônia Legal have evolved from a CO2 sink to a source of CO2 emissions.

Gerd Kohlhepp, born in 1940, studied geography, geology, history, prehistory and economics at Universität Heidelberg, where he graduated with a Dr. phil. in 1967. In 1972 he habilitated at the faculty of geosciences at Universität Heidelberg and in the same year became a professor of human geography at GoetheUniversität Frankfurt am Main. In 1978 he was a professor of economic and social geography at Universität Tübingen, where he established a department of Latin American research. He became professor emeritus in 2005. His research in South America focused on human geography and regional socioeconomic change, in particular on the social, economic and ecological transformations in the Brazilian Amazon region.