Livestock Management Within a Traditional Agrosilvopastoral System in Northern Minas Gerais, Brazil: A Model for Reconciling Livelihoods and Conservation at a Time of Environmental Change

We examine the ongoing transformation of livestock raising component a complex agrosilvopastoral management system associated with Geraizeiro northern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Increasing droughts and regional climate change, large-scale corporate enclosures upland rangelands conversion to eucalyptus plantations for industrial charcoal production have undermined solta, customary form extensive cattle centerpiece lifeways. In response, farmers are adapting transforming another, more intense managed agroforestry in lower-lying areas, manga. Using social-ecological systems approach drawing on interviews ecological inventories, we consider such changes within overall integrity system, suggesting need reconsider role Geraizeiros their use fire as potentially useful tool reconciling livelihoods conservation, particularly amidst accelerating social environmental change concomitant threats savanna biocultural biome.