Professor Antonieta Cunha e Sá addresses the impact that land conversion at the border of urban and non-urban areas, for development or for agriculture, can have on the environment and the ecology of the site, in Antena 1’s radio program 90 Seconds of Science, on August 28th 2017.

This problem is important "because these border regions are areas that undergo a great deal of pressure from developmentalists, that has to do with population growth, income increase, but also because of market failures", justifies Antonieta Cunha e Sá. Presented with these reasonings, an owner who has a plot of land and who exploits wood in that region, ends up having great incentives to convert the land.

However, these conversions have important consequences not only in terms of nature and ecology, but also in economic and social terms. Additionally, "it also makes wildlife in these regions more difficult to coexist: there is habitat destruction, fire risk increases, air quality is affected, environmental quality is affected. So there are indeed many negative aspects to the destruction or conversion of land, "warns Antonieta Cunha e Sá. This conversion can be done for urban or even industrial development, or for agriculture. In the first case, land conversion becomes irreversible: "There is an irreversibility aspect here that makes the problem even more complex or more serious, so to speak," she concludes.

You can listen to the full program here:

http://www.90segundosdeciencia.pt/episodes/ep-200-antonieta-cunha-sa/