Strategic planning to mitigate mining impacts on protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon

With a growing demand for minerals, protected areas (PAs) are under pressure to allow mining activities. This study examines the impacts of five policy scenarios under which combinations of PAs allow mining in the Brazilian Amazon, and shows the need for long-term planning to safeguard biodiversity. Growing demand for minerals is increasing pressure to open protected areas (PAs) for mining. Here we develop spatially explicit models to compare impacts among five policy scenarios to downgrade combinations of PA to allow mining in the Brazilian Amazon. We found downgrading (opening) the region's entire PAs network to develop an additional 242 mineral deposits would cause 183 km(2) of deforestation from mining, half of this in highly biodiverse regions. This scenario would also require 1,463 km of new roads that facilitate access to the region, causing indirect deforestation (estimated to be 40 times larger than direct mining clearing) and forest fragmentation. Downgrading fewer PAs would halve the impacts of mine expansion but require longer access roads per additional deposit mined to avoid crossing areas still protected. Promoting sustainable development while safeguarding biodiversity in mineral-rich regions requires strategic long-term planning that includes identifying no-go areas critical to conservation and designing policies to reduce infrastructure impact when providing access to new mining areas.