Dietary guidelines urge Brazilians to increase their consumption of raw vegetables. Yet key issues must be tackled by the government and civil society, not only to foster consumers’ appetite for healthier food, but more importantly to diminish the gaps between local demand and production, determined by food and land accessibility. We examine whether vegetable production in Brazil meets the demand to provide Brazilians the daily amount of fresh food recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). We developed demand scenarios in Brazil for 2008 and 2030, based on demand density maps built at the district level using production census surveys, household acquisition data, and population growth estimates. Results reveal an inherent inequality in vegetable consumption between the southern and central northern regions of Brazil that follows food insecurity regional indicators. Even in more urbanized regions and metropolitan areas, where the best balance between vegetable production and acquisition is found, simulated demand is far from WHO recommendations. A complementary discussion regarding land distribution and fresh food production supports our outlook on the weaknesses of existing rural policies for land reform and sustainable local fresh food production that directly affect demand and nutritional security. This work was the foundation to the Delivering Food Security on Limited Land (DEVIL) project in Brazil supported by Belmont Forum consortium.

O governo brasileiro possui três sistemas oficiais de monitoramento por satélite da supressão da vegetação nativa dos biomas brasileiros, concebidos e executados pelo Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), por meio do Programa de Monitoramento dos Biomas Brasileiros (BiomasBR): 1) o Prodes – Monitoramento Anual da Supressão de Vegetação Nativa; 2) o Deter - Monitoramento Diário da Supressão e Degradação de Vegetação Nativa; e 3) o TerraClass - Monitoramento Sistêmico da Cobertura e Uso da Terra, este em colaboração com a Empresa Brasileira de Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). Neste artigo são apresentadas as principais características de cada um destes sistemas, os resultados mais recentes do monitoramento da vegetação nativa brasileira, as principais políticas públicas baseadas no BiomasBR e o papel do programa no cumprimento dos compromissos climáticos internacionais assumidos pelo país.

Agricultural expansion and intensification enabled growth of food production but resulted in serious environmental changes. In light of that, debates concerning sustainability in agriculture arises on scientific literature. Land sharing and land sparing are two opposite models for framing agricultural sustainability. The first aims to integrate agricultural activities with biodiversity conservation by means of enhancing the quality of the agricultural matrix in the landscape towards a wildlife friendly matrix. The other model aims to spare natural habitats from agriculture for conservation. This work aimed to explore spatial evidences of land sharing/sparing and its relationship with rural population in the Brazilian Cerrado. A Land Sharing/Sparing Index based on TerraClass Cerrado map was proposed. Spatial analysis based on Global and Local Moran statistics and Geographically Weighted Regression were made in order to explore the influence of local rural population on the probability of spatial land sharing/sparing clusters occurrence. Spatial patterns of land sharing were found in the Cerrado and a positive association with rural population was found in some regions, such as in its northern portion. Land use policies should consider regional infrastructural and participative governance potentialities. The results suggests possible areas where joint agricultural activities and human presence may be favourable for biodiversity conservation.