Land governance as a precondition for decreasing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Reydon, Bastiaan Philip; Fernandes, Vitor Bukvar; Telles, Tiago Santos

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104313

Cited by 81 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…While some authors suggest that private property may be an effective strategy for combating deforestation because insecure property leads to higher deforestation rates [72]. Others argue that Brazil still needs to improve its land governance to reduce deforestation, given to insecure property rights, especially on public lands that often suffer from land speculation and deforestation to attend market demands [73].…”

Section: Challenges To Containing Legal Clearing In the Amazon And Cementioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating the Potential for Conservation and Farming in the Amazon and Cerrado under Four Policy Scenarios

et al. 2020

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Since 2013, clearing rates have rapidly increased in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes. This acceleration has raised questions about the efficacy of current regional public and private conservation policies that seek to promote agricultural production while conserving remnants of natural vegetation. In this study, we assessed conservation and agricultural outcomes of four potential policy scenarios that represent perfect adherence to private sector, zero-deforestation commitments (i.e., the Amazon soy moratorium—ASM and the Amazon cattle agreements—CA) and to varying levels of implementation of the Brazilian Forest Code (FC). Under a zero-clearing scenario, we find that the extent of croplands as of 2017 within the two biomes (31 MHa) could double without further clearing if agriculture were to expand on all previously cleared land that is suitable for crops. Moreover, at least 47 MHa of land that is already cleared but unsuitable for crops would remain available for pasture. Under scenarios in which only legal clearing under the FC could occur, 51 MHa of additional natural vegetation could be cleared. This includes as many as 1 MHa of nonforest vegetation that could be cleared in the Amazon biome without triggering the ASM and CA monitoring systems. Two-thirds of the total vegetation vulnerable to legal clearing is located within the Cerrado biome, and 19 MHa of this land is suitable for cropland expansion. Legal clearing of all of these areas could reduce biodiversity persistence by 4% within the two biomes, when compared with the zero-clearing scenario, and release up to 9 PgCO2e, with the majority (75%) coming from the Cerrado biome. However, when we considered the potential outcomes of full implementation of the FC, we found that 22% (11 MHa) of the 51 MHa of vegetation subject to legal clearing could be protected through the environmental quotas market, while an additional 1 MHa should be replanted across the two biomes, predominantly in the Amazon biome (73% of the area subject to replanting). Together, quotas and replanting could prevent the release of 2 PgCO2e that would otherwise be emitted if all legal clearing occurred. Based on our results, we conclude that ongoing legal clearing could create additional space for cropland and cattle production beyond the substantial existing stocks of cleared areas but would significantly impair local carbon and biodiversity stocks.

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Section: Challenges To Containing Legal Clearing In the Amazon And Cementioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating the Potential for Conservation and Farming in the Amazon and Cerrado under Four Policy Scenarios

et al. 2020

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“…Lack of land tenure documentation limits access to credit and reduces incentives to invest in conservation strategies and is also associated with increased deforestation (Benatti & da Cunha Fischer, 2018). Increased investment in land tenure regularization efforts could help increase opportunities for ranchers to undertake improved land management approaches that would benefit both the cattle sector and reduce deforestation on privately held lands (Reydon et al., 2020). However, these efforts should be carefully calibrated to not promote or legitimize land speculation on state-controlled lands (Reydon et al., 2020), which is a leading cause of deforestation and which currently pending legislation (Provisional Measure 910) would greatly loosen restrictions on (Chiavari & Lopes, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increased investment in land tenure regularization efforts could help increase opportunities for ranchers to undertake improved land management approaches that would benefit both the cattle sector and reduce deforestation on privately held lands (Reydon et al., 2020). However, these efforts should be carefully calibrated to not promote or legitimize land speculation on state-controlled lands (Reydon et al., 2020), which is a leading cause of deforestation and which currently pending legislation (Provisional Measure 910) would greatly loosen restrictions on (Chiavari & Lopes, 2020). Ranchers also take on maintenance of state-owned infrastructure, such as roads; increased budgets for infrastructure and improved oversight of contracts for infrastructure maintenance could reduce the burden on ranchers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extensive Production Practices and Incomplete Implementation Hinder Brazil’s Zero-Deforestation Cattle Agreements in Pará

Pereira

Rausch

Carrara

et al. 2020

Tropical Conservation Science

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Global attention to the role of cattle production in Amazon deforestation led to the development of new public and private-sector supply chain policies designed to control deforestation in Brazil. These zero-deforestation Cattle Agreements (hereafter, CA) are between meatpacking companies and Greenpeace and other nongovernmental organizations, as well as with Brazil’s public prosecutors. However, after over a decade of concerted efforts to reduce deforestation linked to the cattle sector, the problem persists. Here, we use field surveys of ranchers, slaughterhouse managers, and key industry personnel to characterize cattle supply chain actors in southeastern Pará and their responses to the CA. We show that loopholes weaken the CA and enable ranchers to evade full compliance, and we highlight strategies and challenges for ranchers seeking to intensify production. We conclude by discussing how the findings presented in this study suggest that ongoing efforts to reduce Amazon deforestation may require both support for improved efficiency in the cattle sector and the tightening of several loopholes currently utilized by ranchers to avoid detection of ongoing deforestation.

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“…Coordination between levels of government is the key to matching the scale associated with different challenges including environmental regularization and land tenure (Reydon et al, 2019). The authorities of subnational governments to address deforestation vary from country to country; Brazil is one of the countries where second-tier subnational governments (i.e., states) have the greatest authority to reduce deforestation (Busch and Amarjargal, 2020).…”

Section: How Should Local Jurisdictional Approaches Be Aligned With Omentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons for Jurisdictional Approaches From Municipal-Level Initiatives to Halt Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Brandão

Piketty

Poccard-Chapuis³

et al. 2020

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Jurisdictional approaches have become popular in international forums as promising strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation and to guarantee sustainable commodity supply. Yet, despite their growing popularity, up to now, there is little consensus on how such approaches should move forward in specific jurisdictions. In this paper we examine two contrasting municipal-level case studies in the eastern Amazonian state of Pará where jurisdiction-wide efforts are underway to reduce deforestation. By developing detailed forest governance intervention timelines since 2005, conducting semi-structured interviews with key informants, analyzing municipal deforestation trends, plus extensive examination of project reports, governmental documents and other secondary sources, this paper performs two main analyses. First, it characterizes the processes in each municipality by linking context and forest governance intervention timelines to deforestation trends. Second it provides a systematic comparison of processes based on (1) the role of the government, (2) multi-stakeholder participation and inclusiveness, (3) adaptive management, (4) horizontal and vertical coordination, and (5) alignment of public and private (supply-chain) initiatives. In so doing, this article answers some of the imperative questions on how to implement and improve jurisdictional approaches aimed at halting deforestation in the tropics.

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Land governance as a precondition for decreasing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Cited by 81 publications

References 40 publications

Estimating the Potential for Conservation and Farming in the Amazon and Cerrado under Four Policy Scenarios

Estimating the Potential for Conservation and Farming in the Amazon and Cerrado under Four Policy Scenarios

Extensive Production Practices and Incomplete Implementation Hinder Brazil’s Zero-Deforestation Cattle Agreements in Pará

Lessons for Jurisdictional Approaches From Municipal-Level Initiatives to Halt Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

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