**3.2. Deforestation**

To assess deforestation in each municipality, the rates of the yearly increase of deforestation for the period 2001–2014 were produced through digital classification of satellite imagery and provided by the PRODES project [38].

In the state of Tocantins, the increase of deforested areas remained constant throughout the years in some municipalities, mainly in the north and west of the state (**Figure 6**).

**Figure 6.** Spatiotemporal profile of the increase of deforestation in Tocantins State, 2001–2014. Source: PRODES. Map design: Núcleo de Geoprocessamento LIS/ICICT/FIOCRUZ.

Ecoepidemiology of American Visceral Leishmaniasis in Tocantins State, Brazil: Factors Associated... http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/65852 103


Significant correlation at level 0.05.

**3.2. Deforestation**

provided by the PRODES project [38].

102 The Epidemiology and Ecology of Leishmaniasis

To assess deforestation in each municipality, the rates of the yearly increase of deforestation for the period 2001–2014 were produced through digital classification of satellite imagery and

In the state of Tocantins, the increase of deforested areas remained constant throughout the

**Figure 6.** Spatiotemporal profile of the increase of deforestation in Tocantins State, 2001–2014. Source: PRODES. Map

design: Núcleo de Geoprocessamento LIS/ICICT/FIOCRUZ.

years in some municipalities, mainly in the north and west of the state (**Figure 6**).

**Table 2.** Correlation between deforested areas and human cases of American visceral leishmaniasis; correlation between deforested area and incidence of American visceral leishmaniasis from 2000 to 2014, in Tocantins State.


**Table 3.** Correlation between deforested area and stratification for American visceral leishmaniasis; correlation between the increase of deforestation and stratification of AVL, from 2004 to 2014, in Tocantins State.

<sup>\*\*</sup>Significant correlation at level 0.01.

The municipalities that had higher increase of deforestation were Aragominas, Araguatins, Lagoa da Confusão, Araguaína, Ceará, Xambioá, Santa Fé do Araguaia, Pequizeiro, and Piraquê. Araguaína was the municipality that showed the most deforested area in the state.

As it was with the incidence of AVL and land use, deforested areas were positively correlated with human cases of AVL from 2007 to 2014 (**Table 2**).

Deforested areas and stratification of AVL were positively correlated in the last years, from 2009 to 2014 (**Table 3**).
