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Bogoni, Juliano André, Concone, Henrique Villas Boas, Carvalho-Rocha, Vítor, Ferraz, Katia M.P.M.B. and Peres, Carlos A. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1588-8765
(2023)
The historical ecology of the world’s largest tropical country uniquely chronicled by its municipal coat-of-arms symbology.
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias, 95.
ISSN 0001-3765
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Abstract
Coats-of-arms representing municipal counties express local patterns of rural economics, natural resource and land use, features of the natural capital, and the cultural heritage of either aborigines or colonists. We reconstruct the subnational economic and political timeline of the world’s largest tropical country using municipal coats-of-arms to reinterpret Brazil’s historical ecology. We assessed all natural resource, biophysical, agricultural, and ethnocultural elements of 5,197 coats-of-arms (93.3%) distributed throughout Brazil. We extracted socioenvironmental co-variables for any municipality to understand and predict the relationships between social inequality, environmental degradation, and the historical ecology symbology. We analyzed data via ecological networks and structural equation models. Our results show that the portfolio of political-administrative symbology in coats-of-arms is an underutilized tool to understand the history of colonization frontiers. Although Brazil is arguably Earth’s most species-rich country, generations of political leaders have historically failed to celebrate this biodiversity, instead prioritizing a symbology depicted by icons of frontier conquest and key natural resources. Brazilian historical ecology reflects the relentless depletion of the natural resource capital while ignoring profound social inequalities. Degradation of natural ecosystems is widespread in Brazilian economy, reflecting a legacy of boom-and-bust rural development that so far has failed to deliver sustainable socioeconomic prosperity.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | Acknowledgements: We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions on our manuscript. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Funding Information: JAB was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP; grants 2018-05970-1 and 2019-11901-5). JAB is was supported by Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) postdoctoral fellowship (grant 150261/2023-3). HVBC has a scholarship granted by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) – Brazil. VCR was supported by a studentship granted by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001). KMPMBF is funded by research grant (308632/2018-4 and 303940/2021-2) from the Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). We thank anthropologist Maria Helena Villas Boas Concone for important insights on Brazilian culture. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | ecological elements,fauna,flora,land use,public policy,tropical forest,general,sdg 10 - reduced inequalities,sdg 11 - sustainable cities and communities,sdg 15 - life on land ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1000 |
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| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 04 Mar 2024 18:30 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Sep 2024 17:40 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/94479 |
| DOI: | 10.1590/0001-3765202320220746 |
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