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Written by: Ansa Heyl
Finding a balance between
agriculture and nature
Research shows that fully enforcing existing
legislation in Brazil could bring about a compromise
between agriculture and the environment.
In 1965, Brazil passed a set of laws to protect the
country’s native vegetation and regulate land use.
The “Forest Code” carried the promise of stopping
illegal deforestation and continuing Brazil’s trajectory
toward an ever-decreasing loss of forest areas. The
legislation was, however, never fully enforced, with
many saying that its regulations were too restrictive. In
addition, despite a significant decrease in deforestation
observed between 2004 and 2012, which is largely
attributed to other factors, the legislation failed to curb
illegal deforestation. This led to a revision of the law
in 2012. In recent years, Brazil has nonetheless seen a
sharp increase in the loss of forestland. This is ascribed
to internal pressure for the loosening of environmental
regulations due to economic and political turmoil in
the country, an increased need for land, and a lack of
incentives to encourage farmers to stop deforesting.
A team of researchers from several international
institutions led by IIASA Ecosystems Services and
Management Program researcher Aline Soterroni and
Fernando Ramos from Brazil’s National Institute for
Space Research, set out to understand the implications
of fully enforcing the Forest Code on both the
environment and the Brazilian agriculture sector to
2050. Their work is timely, as it could reassert the need
for continuous efforts in the enforcement of the Forest
Code, while showing that it will not prevent growth in
the agricultural sector.
“Deforestation is responsible for a major share of
Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions and has historically
been linked to cattle ranching and crop production.
Between 1990 and 2016, the land use sector in
Brazil emitted more than 50 billion tons of CO2,
which is equivalent to one year of global emissions.
Understanding the nexus between agricultural
expansion and land-use change is key for Brazil to meet
its ambitious goals of emissions reduction set during
the 2015 Paris climate talks,” explains Soterroni.
Although a paper on the team’s work was only
published earlier this year, the research has been
ongoing for some time and has already informed
policy. Specifically, the results were applied in the
land use, land-use change, and forestry component of the Brazilian Intended Nationally Determined
Contributions (INDCs) presented in the Paris Agreement.
According to José Domingos Miguez, director of
Brazil's Department of Environmental Evaluation in the
country's Ministry of the Environment and a leading
climate negotiator, land-use emissions are a central
part of Brazil’s climate commitments.
“Being able to point to the scientific basis for our
climate commitment helps build trust with other
nations, and creates a transparent environment
for climate negotiations in the future. The Brazilian
Government has benefited from the cooperation
between IIASA and other leading Brazilian public
institutions. The results of the study were quite
informative and have provided science-based evidence
that has contributed to Brazil’s INDCs,” says Miguez.
Further info: Soterroni A, Mosnier A, Carvalho AXY, Câmara G,
Obersteiner M, Andrade PR, Souza RC, Brock R, et al. (2018). Future
environmental and agricultural impacts of Brazil's Forest Code.
Environmental Research Letters [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15345]
Aline Soterroni: soterr@iiasa.ac.at © Pcphotography69 | Dreamstime
Science
into policy
www.iiasa.ac.at8
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