Elsevier

Environmental Science & Policy

Volume 16, February 2012, Pages 65-72
Environmental Science & Policy

The revision of the Brazilian Forest Act: increased deforestation or a historic step towards balancing agricultural development and nature conservation?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2011.10.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Almost two-thirds of the Brazilian territory still has prevalence of natural vegetation. Although not all pristine, much of these areas have high conservation value. 170 million hectare (Mha) of the natural vegetation is located within Federal and State protected areas. Most of the remaining 367 Mha is on private agriculture lands, where the Forest Act is the most important legal framework for conservation. In July 2010, the Brazilian parliament began the analysis of a substitutive legislation for the Forest Act. The main motivations for the revision is that, on the one hand, it has been found ineffective in protecting natural vegetation, and on the other hand, it is perceived as a barrier against development in the agriculture sector. The substitutive Forest Act, as it presently stands, does not represent a balance between existing standpoints and objectives; it may drive development towards either more private protection through market-driven compensation actions, or increased deforestation and less nature protection/restoration. This article uses outcomes from modeling analyses to discuss weaknesses of the substitutive Forest Act and to suggest possible improvements.

Highlights

► Almost two-thirds of the Brazilian territory has prevalence of natural vegetation. ► Brazil is currently revising its main legal nature conservation framework. ► The proposed revision is found to be unbalanced. ► We propose how to better balance agricultural development and nature conservation.

Introduction

Brazil is among the biologically wealthiest nations and holds substantial areas of high value for biodiversity conservation, covering biomes such as the Amazon rainforests, savannas (Cerrado); the typical sparse, thorny woods with drought-resistant trees in northeastern Brazil (Caatinga); the tropical wetland (Pantanal); the world biosphere reserve complex along the Atlantic coast (Atlantic Forest); and the grassland of South Brazil (Pampa).

The pressure on Brazil's biodiverse lands has varied over time. Studies point to evidence of large pre-European (400–500 years ago) occupations and large-scale transformations of forest and wetland environments within the Amazon region, thus refuting the view on the Amazon as a primordial forest, only minimally impacted by small, simple and dispersed groups that inhabit the region (Heckenberger et al., 2007). Yet, economic development and the construction of a network of highways in the early 1970s (including the Transamazon) lead to deforestation far beyond historic rates in the Amazon region (Fearnside, 2005, Mittermeier et al., 2005, Fearnside, 2007). The deforestation of the Atlantic Forest that once covered about 15% of the Brazilian territory (Brondizio and Gurgel, 1990) started in the early 1500s. It accelerated in the twentieth century and today less than 10% of the original area remains (Camara, 2003, Tabarelli et al., 2005). The Cerrado – which has the richest flora among the world's savannas (>7000 species), a high level of endemism, and equally high species richness of birds, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, and birds – has during the last 35 years lost more than half of its original 200 million hectare (Mha) area due to expansion of pasture and agricultural lands (Klink and Machado, 2005, Brannstrom et al., 2008).

Yet, from Brazilian continental territory (850 Mha) an area of 537 Mha still has prevalence of natural vegetation. These areas are not all pristine. Some may be used for grazing, low impact extraction, undergo regeneration, or be occupied by less intensive agriculture; all productive activities possible without the complete removal of the natural vegetation. Although not all being pristine, much of these areas have high conservation value, as shown by their reflectance pattern in satellite images being similar to those of the corresponding natural sites.

Parallel with the progressing conversion of natural ecosystems, there has been a growing awareness of the need to protect natural areas – especially during the most recent 30–40 years. From mid 1970s, large commitments to parks and other protected areas have been made at federal, state, municipal and private levels. In addition, the connection between deforestation and anthropogenic climate change, and the view that forest protection and forestation strategies can contribute to climate change mitigation, has resulted in increased attention to the state and management of Brazil's forests during the recent decades (IPCC, 2000, UNFCCC, 2005, Gullison et al., 2007, Phelps et al., 2010).

In recent years, there has also been concern that deforestation arising – directly or indirectly – from establishment of bioenergy projects can seriously undermine the contribution of such projects to greenhouse gas emissions reduction (see, e.g., Fargione et al., 2008, Searchinger et al., 2008, IEA Bioenergy, 2010, Lapola et al., 2010, Arima et al., 2011, IPCC, 2011). This as further increased the attention to deforestation and other conversion of natural vegetation in Brazil, since Brazil is among the leading biofuel producing nations.

Presently, 170 Mha out of the 537 Mha of natural vegetation land are located within federal and state protected areas and Indian Reservations (FPA/IR), where legislation and its enforcement is reported to be highly efficient (95%) in keeping the natural vegetation (Sparovek et al., 2010). The remaining 367 Mha is mainly on private lands used for agriculture, upon which the Brazilian Forest Act (FA) applies. The FA is the most important legal framework for regulating conservation and restoration on private land, covering all natural vegetation; i.e., not only forests, as the name of the law may suggest, but also the non-forest biomes.

Another part of the natural vegetation, mainly located in the Amazon Region and difficult to define in terms of precise location and area, is on public land that has not yet been converted to FPA/IR, or assigned for private ownership. The unclear ownership situation is an additional threat to natural land in these cases since legal measures cannot be effectively applied until the land status has been defined.

In July 2010, the Brazilian parliament began the analysis of a substitutive legislation on natural vegetation protection on private land, i.e., a revision of the FA1. The revision is partly motivated by the ineffectiveness of the current legislation. Assessments of the compliance of Brazilian agriculture with the legislation report a large deficit in protection of natural vegetation on private farmland (Sparovek et al., 2010).

Even though changes towards a more flexible FA is considered by many authors a threat against natural resources conservation (Martinelli et al., 2010a, Metzger et al., 2010, Michalski et al., 2010). There is also the perception in the agricultural sector that the FA in its present form is a barrier against agriculture development. Not the least important, the perceived consequence of enforcing full compliance is a strong motivation for the agriculture sector to lobby for a revision of the FA. Achieving full compliance with the FA as it presently stands would require drastic changes in agricultural land use, where at least 85 Mha of agriculture land is taken out of production and converted back to natural vegetation (Sparovek et al., 2011). This could lead to very substantial social and economic consequences due to the production losses and also since such a large-scale restoration would be costly, if not impracticable.

Furthermore, there exist large areas (about 100 Mha) of legally unprotected natural vegetation in regions experiencing agriculture expansion. There is a risk that “restricting land use may force the market to look elsewhere to satisfy material needs” (Dekker-Robertson and Libby (1998) quoted by Lambin and Meyfroidt (2011), pp. 3467), i.e., that such unprotected natural vegetation would become under increased conversion pressure from agriculture to compensate for the lost production associated with re-conversion of current agricultural land to natural vegetation. Such leakage effects (IPCC, 2000) could seriously undermine the environmental benefits of enforcing full compliance with the FA. Illustrative of this, Soares et al. (2006) forecasted a total of 60–170 Mha of deforestation in Brazil by 2050 depending on the level of governance and law enforcement. Even when considering the strict compliance of the actual FA the deforestation outcome was still forecasted to be approximately 140 Mha. Productivity improvements in agriculture might mitigate the leakage effects, and there is especially high potential for improved productivity in the Brazilian meat and cattle production (see, e.g., Lywood et al., 2009, Lapola et al., 2010, ICONE, 2011, IPCC, 2011).

We present results from analyzes of the different legal mechanisms in the substitutive FA as it presently stands, and point out weaknesses and legal inaccuracies. We also present possible improvements and propose a way forward for Brazil towards balancing agricultural development and nature conservation.

Section snippets

Methodology and data

Based on preliminary information released before the substitutive FA was public, a national spatially explicit database and modeling framework was used to analyze legal mechanisms for conservation, and also to develop suggestions for possible improvements (Sparovek et al., 2010). After the submission of the substitutive FA to the parliament in July 2010, the same database and modeling framework was used for additional analyses of individual and combined effects of important legal requirements

Functioning of the current Forest Act

The FA includes two types of conservation concepts: Permanent Preservation Areas (PPAs) and Legal Reserve Areas (LRAs). PPAs aim at protecting water resources, soils, and biodiversity, and also at serving as green corridors in the landscape. They are defined in a geographically explicit way, consisting of riparian areas along water bodies, steep slopes, high altitude areas and hilltops. PPAs are established exclusively for the purpose of conservation and must be covered by natural vegetation.

The announced pillars of the substitutive Forest Act

The substitutive FA includes two complementary mechanisms intended to help the Brazilian agriculture sector to comply with the legal requirements, without having to abandon large areas of agricultural land. These are: (i) reduced requirements for protection of natural vegetation on private farmland; and (ii) the possibility for farmers to protect natural vegetation outside the farm as compensation for lack of protection on the own farmland.

The pillars of announced substitutive FA are the

Intensification as an option for combining conservation and agriculture development

Development of crop production and beef cattle ranching can take place either through intensified production to increase yields or through land expansion. A large part of the crop production in Brazil is already intensive and have high yields (Martinelli et al., 2010b). Drastic yield improvements can hardly be expected for crops such as soy and sugarcane in the short to medium term. Increased production of these crops will therefore require cropland expansion. However, it may not require

Final remarks

Brazil is close to a substantial revision of its main legal nature conservation framework. This revision will influence the prospects for the management of soil and water resources, nature conservation and agriculture production. Further revisions of the substitutive FA are needed to reach clear definitions and also to balance the two options for making the Brazilian agriculture sector legal while avoiding abandonment of large areas of agricultural land. Future development from the present

Gerd Sparovek Sparovek is full professor at University of São Paulo, Brazil. Sparovek has experience in the topics of agricultural production system analysis, rural development and land use planning. He coordinated several research projects for the Brazilian Federal Government related to policy evaluation and design in areas of agrarian reform, land credit, agricultural certification, and food production by family agriculture. Sparovek also has a solid background in physical modeling related to

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    Gerd Sparovek Sparovek is full professor at University of São Paulo, Brazil. Sparovek has experience in the topics of agricultural production system analysis, rural development and land use planning. He coordinated several research projects for the Brazilian Federal Government related to policy evaluation and design in areas of agrarian reform, land credit, agricultural certification, and food production by family agriculture. Sparovek also has a solid background in physical modeling related to soil science (soil erosion and land use suitability). Remote sensing, GIS, DB and multidisciplinary work in tropical regions related to agricultural production are tools frequently used in Sparovek's research.

    Göran Berndes Berndes is associate professor at Chalmers at the Energy and Environment Department (Physical Resource Theory division). Göran Berndes does research into development of energy systems and of land use, and of interactions between these respective developments. His focus is on how biomass can be used to reduce the energy system's carbon footprint and the impact of large-scale use of biomass for energy.

    Alberto Giaroli de Oliveira Pereira Barretto Barretto is PhD student at University of São Paulo. This report is part of his research, that aims the understanding, via spatial modeling, of sustainable alternatives for agricultural development in Brazil.

    Israel Leoname Fröhlich Klug Klug is graduate student at University of São Paulo. This report uses part of the technical support he provided in setting up geographic land use information for Brazil.

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