Dinâmica da fronteira agrícola do Mato Grosso e implicações para a saúde¹

In the Brazilian Amazonia, the most profound transformations of the ecosystems were produced by the expansion of the agricultural frontier. In the northern state of Mato Grosso, this phenomenon produced deforestation and the burning of more than 50% of the native forest. Aquatic ecosystems have been contaminated with pesticides and mercury. We aim to understand how people's health was affected by these environmental changes. To this end, we developed a case study based on key pillars of ecohealth: transdisciplinarity, social participation and gender equality. The results suggest that in the Amazonian agricultural frontier of Mato Grosso, the degradation and contamination of ecosystems are related to the emergence of new diseases. The increasing openness of the agricultural frontier to the global market consolidates the creation of industrial risks, contributing to the increased incidence of chronic degenerative diseases.

keywords:
Environmental health; Agricultural frontier; Amazonia; Environmental risk