RT null T1 Amazonian Deforestation Slowing but May Already be at a Tipping Point Mato Grosso, Brazil - UNEP Global Environmental Alert Service (GEAS) 2011 A1 United Nations Environment Programme, K1 deforestation K1 Brazil K1 forest YR 2011 FD 2011 LK https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/40834 UL https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/40834 NO At the beginning of the 20th century, roughly 80 percent of the 5 million km2 "Legal Amazon" region of Brazil was forested (Kirby and others 2006). Highways built in the 1950s and 1960s, along with government incentives for colonization and development, created a boom in the conversion of forests to cattle ranching and farming (Kirby and others 2006). Much of this change occurred along an arc at the southern edge of the Amazon Basin where the newly built roads facilitated access to the forest and connected the region to markets outside the forest. DS UN Environment Document Repository RD Sep 18, 2026