Exactly where and when the first eucalypt tree was planted in Brazil is very difficult to determine. The event has been reported to have occurred in 1824 at the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro and to have been carried out by the Garden's director, Frei Leandro do Sacramento (Sampaio 1975). However, no one will deny that it was Edmundo Navarro de Andrade who, in 1904, started the first truly scientific work around introducing Eucalyptus in Brazil. His work included the establishment of the first commercial plantations of that genus in the country. After earning his diploma as an agronomist in Coimbra, Portugal, Andrade brought some seeds of Eucalyptus globulus to Jundiaí, São Paulo. He planted these along with some other exotic and native tree species. At that time, Andrade was working for the Paulista Railroad Company to provide firewood for the company's steam-powered engines and sleepers. In a few years the eucalypt test plots outgrew all the other tree species being tested, encouraging Andrade to import seeds of various species of this genus to be tested in São Paulo. As a result of his efforts, a total of 217 species of Eucalyptus were introduced in Brazil (Spinelli 1993).

From 1909 to 1965, about 470 thousand hectares of Eucalyptus were planted in Brazil by government and by privately-owned companies. Eighty percent of these plantations were in the state of São Paulo. The eucalypts were introduced in Brazil to substitute for native forests in providing firewood for the railroad companies. Because extensive cutting of native forests for firewood, forests were receding further and further from consumption centers. Other energy sources, such as coal, were not available in Brazil, and the cost of importing them was high. In 1948, Cia Belgo-Mineira in Minas Gerais established the first eucalypt plantations to provide wood for charcoal production to be used by the charcoal-based iron and steel-making industry (Magahães 1993). Until 1965 there was no major concern about the negative effects these eucalypt plantations might have on the environment.

Environmental groups are now exerting considerable pressure to make it unfavorable for the establishment of eucalypt plantations in Brazil. These groups have affected certain decisions the forest companies have made concerning the effects of their activities on the environment (Lima 1993). The concept of production forestry has given way to that of sustainable forestry, in which the multiple uses of water, air quality, erosion control, wildlife, recreation and landscape are considered as valuable as timber production (Coufal 1989). Integrated forest management takes into account the relationships between the various components of the forest ecosystem so that management practices minimize the environmental impacts of the plantations (Duerr 1990). Aspects deserving attention are (1) the hydrologic and ecological processes; (2) the capacity of the soil to produce on a sustainable basis; (3) the biodiversity of the area; and (4) the sustainability and preservation of species, habitats, and the genetic pool. This paper presents an overview of the social and environmental aspects related to the establishment of large-scale eucalypt plantations in Brazil.

File created: October 21, 1996; Last updated: