The presence of roads is, at certain levels, also related to deforestation in the Amazon (Skole and Tucker
1993; Alves et al. 1999; Alves 2002; Dale et al. 1994; Laurence 2002; Fearnside 2005). Alves (2002) revealed
that most of the deforestation detected from 1991 to 1996 (75%) occurred 50 km from the roads. Recently,
Leite et al (2011) reconstructed a geographically historical database of land use in Amazonia for the period of
1940–1995, through a fusion of historical census data and a contemporary land use classification. They
emphasize that the spatial pattern of land use in Amazon region in this period was greatly influenced by roads
and pioneer occupation areas. Even though deforestation rates are not directly related to total population
counts or estimates (Geist and Lambin 2001), this type of land cover change activity indicates human
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presence in rural areas (Wood and Skole 1998). It is important to emphasize that deforestation in Amazon is a complex multi-factor process (Camara et al 2005).