Conservation in the Amazon rainforest and Google searches: A DCCA approach

PLoS One. 2022 Oct 26;17(10):e0276675. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276675. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the descriptive statistics of the Google search volume for the terms related to the National Reserve of Copper and Associates (RENCA), a Brazilian mineral reserve in the Amazon of 4.6 million hectares, before and after the government signed the decree releasing it for exploration. First, we analyze the volume of searches for expressions related to RENCA in Google Trends using descriptive statistics; second, we assess the cross-correlation coefficient ρDCCA, which measures the cross-correlation between two nonstationary time series across different time scales. After the government announced the release of the RENCA reserve, there was an increase in the average volume of Google searches for related terms, showing people's concern about the announcement. By using the cross-correlation coefficient ρDCCA, we identify strong cross-correlations between the different expressions related to RENCA in Google Trends. Our work shows the utility of Google Trends as an indicator of the perception of environmental policies. Additionally, we show that ρDCCA can be used as a tool to measure the cross-correlation between synonyms extracted from Google Trends for various time scales.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Brazil
  • Copper
  • Humans
  • Internet
  • Rainforest*
  • Search Engine*

Substances

  • Copper

Grants and funding

This study received support in the form of the following grants: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia - FAPESB (Foundation for Researcher Support of the State of Bahia; Granting Agreement No BOL 0261/2017); Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (grant UID/ECO/04007/2013), awarded to PF; FEDER/COMPETE (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007659), awarded to PF; and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico CNPq (305291/2018-1), awarded to MM.