Monitoring land use changes around the indigenous lands of the Xingu basin in Mato Grosso, Brazil

Indigenous lands represent an efficient way to protect indigenous communities and environment in Brazil. However, these lands are also highly affected y the land use changes occuring in its surroundings. We quantified the land use changes in the Xingu basin based on MODIS EVI data between 2000 and 2006. We estimated the deforested area inside and outside the indigenous lands, the crop expansion and intensification around the protected areas. Our results indicate that, even if indigenous lands are efficient to limit deforestation (97.5% of deforestation is outside the indigenous lands), crop expansion and intensification (double crop systems) are increasing rapidly, what may imply pollution of headwaters of the Xingu river which crosses the protected area.