Do political changes regarding livestock farming, beef supply chain and Amazonian forest protection, contribute to ecological intensification?

Since 2008, Amazonian agriculture has been faced with radical changes in Brazilian policies regarding agricultural land use and the preservation of forest areas. The viability of livestock systems is threatened, revealing the emergency for technical, organizational and social alternatives which could bring about a sustainable development of agriculture in this region. Alternatives are experimented by public extension services and private operators in order to find an outcome. In this context, how do these alternatives contribute to put into debate what is ecological intensification? Ecological intensification, defined as an ecologically friendly agricultural development, is envisioned as a possible way to conciliate the existence of the beef supply chain and the protection of forest ecosystems in this region. Taking the examples of three municipalities of the Pará State, the authors analyze the points of view of different categories of actors involved in livestock farming and beef supply chain. The results show that the alternatives often deal with classical ways of intensification, which are hardly affordable to small farmers, and put forward other kinds of ecological risks and damages.