SLOW-DOWN OF DEFORESTATION FOLLOWING A BRAZILIAN FOREST POLICY WAS LESS EFFECTIVE ON PRIVATE LANDS THAN IN ALL CONSERVATION AREAS
Resumo
Private lands are important for conservation worldwide, but knowledge about their effec-
tiveness is still insufficient. To help fill this important knowledge gap, we analyzed the
impacts of a national policy for conservation on private lands in Brazil, a global biodiversity
hotspot with high potential for nature-based climate solutions. Through the evaluation of over
4 million private rural properties from the Rural Environmental Cadastre, we found that the
last policy review in 2012 mainly affected the Amazon Forest. The amnesty granted to 80%
of landowners of small properties prevented the restoration of 14.6 million hectares of
agricultural land with a carbon sequestration potential of 2.4 gigatonnes. We found that
private lands exist within the limits of public conservation areas and that between 2003 and
2020 deforestation rates in these private lands were higher than those across all con-
servation areas. The Rural Environmental Cadastre can be an effective tool for managing
forests within private lands, with potential to integrate governance approaches to control
deforestation and mitigate climate change.
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