The Amazon basin has the biggest hydrographic system in the planet. The area covered by this basin corresponds to five percent of the earth surface, 2/5 of South America and 50% of the Brazilian territory. Sixty percent of the Amazon basin, which drains about 1/5 of the world's sweet water, are in Brazil. The average temperature is around 25^oC, with torrential rains distributed all year around. The geomorphology in the Amazon biome is diverse, with plateaus, plains and depressions. Umbrageous dense woods (rain forest) is the most characteristic vegetation.

The Brazilian government is constantly searching for ecologic and efficient solutions for agriculture and cattle raising activities already existent in the area, to avoid opening new areas of production.

Studies indicate animal husbandry as an important contributor to green-house gases (GHG) emissions, with high levels of emissions detected in cattle raised in degraded pastures. There are production systems already consolidated which are more productive using less inputs. Utilizing scientific fundaments and alternative technologies these systems result in lower impact over biodiversity, and are expected to emit less GHG and improve carbon sequestration.

Through Pecus Amazonia, Embrapa and its partners are dedicated to investigate the soil/plant/atmosphere system in order to obtain information on nutrient cycles and GHG balance in the most important production systems in the Amazon Biome.

Production systems under evaluation: intensive buffalo production on pasture; silvopastoral; beef cattle production on riverside wetlands; crop-livestock-forestry integration systems in native Babaçú palm tree areas; cattle raising in legume-grass pastures.