Editing IPCC:AR6/WGIII/Chapter-7 (section)

=== Box 7.9 | Case Study: Deforestation Control in the Brazilian Amazon ===

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'''Summary'''

Between 2000 and 2004, deforestation rates in the Brazilian Legal Amazon (is a socio-geographic division containing all nine Brazilian states in the Amazon basin) increased from 18,226 to 27,772 km 2 yr –1 2008 ( [[#INPE--2021|INPE, 2021]] ). A set of public policies designed in participatory process involving federal government, states, municipalities, and civil society successfully reduced deforestation rates until 2012. However, deforestation rates increased after 2013, and particularly between 2019 and 2020. Successful deforestation control policies are being negatively affected by changes in environmental governance, weak law enforcement, and polarisation of the national politics.

Box 7.9 (Continued)

'''Background'''

In 2004, the Brazilian federal government started the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) (Ministry of Environment, Government of Brazil, 2018).

The PPCDAm was a benchmark for the articulation of forest conservation policies that included central and state governments, prosecutor offices, and the civil society. The decline in deforestation after 2008 is mostly attributed to these policy options. In 2012, deforestation rates decreased to 4,571 km 2 yr –1 .

'''Case description'''

Combating deforestation was a theme in several programs, government plans, and projects not being more restricted to the environmental agenda. This broader inclusion resulted from a long process of insertion and articulation in the government dating back to 2003 while elaborating on the Sustainable Amazon Plan. In May 2003, a historic meeting took place in an Amazonian city, with the president of the Republic, state governors, ministers, and various business leaders, civil institutions, and social movements. It was presented and approved the document entitled ‘Sustainable Amazonia – Guidelines and Priorities of the Ministry of Environment for the Sustainable Development of the Amazon Brazilian’, containing several guidelines for conservation and sustainable use in the region. At the meeting, the Union and some states signed a Cooperation Agreement aiming to elaborate a plan for the Amazon, to be widely discussed with the various sectors of the regional and national society (Ministerio do Meio Ambiente, MMA, 2013).

'''Interactions''' '''and limitations'''

The PPCDAm had three main lines of action: (i) territorial management and land use; (ii) command and control; and (iii) promotion of sustainable practices. During the execution of the 1st and 2nd phases of the PPCDAm (2004–2011), important results in the territorial management and land-use component included, for example, the creation of 25 Mha of federal Protected Areas (PAs) located mainly in front of the expansion of deforestation, as well as the homologation of 10 Mha of Indigenous Lands. Also, states and municipalities created approximately 25 Mha, so that all spheres of government contributed to the expansion of PAs in the Brazilian Amazon. In the ‘command and control’ component, agencies performed hundreds of inspection operations against illegal activities (e.g., illegal logging) under strategic planning based on technical and territorial priorities. Besides, there was a significant improvement of the environmental monitoring systems, involving the analysis of satellite images to guide actions on the ground. Another policy was the restriction of public credit to enterprises linked to illegal deforestation following a resolution of the Brazilian Central Bank (2008) (Ministerio do Meio Ambiente, MMA, 2013). Also, in 2008, Brazil created the Amazon Fund, a REDD+ mechanism (Government of Brazil, n.d.).

However, the country’s political polarisation has gradually eroded environmental governance, especially after the Brazilian Forest Code changes in 2012 (major environmental law in Brazil), the presidential impeachment in 2016, presidential elections in 2018, and the start of the new federal administration in 2019. Successful deforestation control policies are being negatively affected by critical changes in the political context, and weakening the environmental rule of law, forest conservation, and sustainable development programmes (for example, changes in the Amazon Fund governance in disagreement with the main donors). In 2019, the annual deforestation rate reached 10,129 km 2 being the first time it surpassed 10,000 km 2 since 2008 ( [[#INPE--2021|INPE, 2021]] ). Besides, there has been no effective transition from the historical economic model to a sustainable one. The lack of clarity in the ownership of land is still a major unresolved issue in the Amazon.

'''Lessons'''

The reduction of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon was possible due to effective political and institutional support for environmental conservation. The initiatives of the Action Plan included the expansion of the protected areas network (conservation unities and indigenous lands), improvement of deforestation monitoring to the enforcement of environmental laws, and the use of economic instruments, for example, by cutting off public credit for municipalities with higher deforestation rates ( [[#Ricketts--2010|Ricketts et al. 2010]] ; [[#Souza--2013|Souza et al. 2013]] ; [[#Nepstad--2014|Nepstad et al. 2014]] ; [[#Arima--2014|Arima et al. 2014]] ; Blackman and Veit 2018).

The array of public policies and social engagement was a historical and legal breakthrough in global protection. However, the broader political and institutional context and actions to reduce the representation and independent control of civil society movements in decision-making bodies weaken this structure with significant increases in deforestation rates, burnings, and forest fires.

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