Introduction

Human existence in the 21st century requires a delicate balance between our economic needs — agricultural land, resources for industry, infrastructure for human settlement, etc. — and our ecological requirements — maintaining forests, ameliorating climate change, and protecting other species, among others.

With this balance in mind, it is possible to quantify specific changes on the face of the earth. This research focuses on deforestation in Brazil, vis-à-vis the Human Development Index (HDI) developed by the UN. According to the UN, Brazil alone accounts for roughly 12% of the world’s forest. Over the last several decades, the Brazilian economy has steadily grown. Concurrently, the loss of Amazon forests has become a major issue in climate policy.

This research explores relationships between these separate phenomena, searching for spatial relationships. Consider, for example:

• Are the states of Brazil with the greatest deforestation also seeing the greatest economic growth?
• What is the relationship between deforestation and other indexes of human well-being, like health?
• Whatever form these relationships take, are they identical everywhere in the country, or do they vary by state or region?

Next: Background