Dr. Britaldo Silveira Soares-Filho is a full professor in the Department of Cartography, Institute of Geosciences at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. His research focuses on environmental modeling applied to policy design and evaluation of policy choices. Dr. Soares-Filho and collaborators have developed integrated simulations of land-use changes in tropical forest regions to assess the impacts of policy scenarios on climate, river regime, carbon balance, forest fires, agriculture and forestry rents, and biodiversity.
The economic and ecological integrated modeling platforms developed by his team have helped answer several key policy questions facing Brazil. In this respect, Dr. Soares-Filho has worked closely with NGOs and government agencies to implement sound policies aimed at reconciling country-wide conservation with sustainable rural development. Policy applications include studies on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+), impacts of infrastructure development on ecosystem services, economic evaluation of forest concessions, effectiveness of Amazon protected areas, Brazil’s Forest Code, the national market for trading forest certificates, low-carbon agriculture development, cattle ranching intensification, and Brazil’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to climate change mitigation. He also coordinates the development of DINAMICA EGO software, an environmental modeling freeware used by many scholars worldwide.
Dr. Soares-Filho received his Ph.D. in Spatial Analyses from the University of São Paulo.
