Unfolding additional massive cutback effects of the Native Vegetation Protection Law on Legal Reserves, Brazil

Author(s):Show less -

Tavares, Paulo Andre ^[1] ; Brites, Alice Dantas ^[1] ; Sparovek, Gerd ^[1] ; Guidotti, Vinicius ^[2] ; Cerignoni, Felipe ^[2] ; Aguiar, Daniel ^[3] ; Metzger, Jean Paul ^[4] ; Rodrigues, Ricardo Ribeiro ^[5] ; Guedes Pinto, Luis Fernando ^[2] ; de Mello, Kaline ^[4] ; Molin, Paulo Guilherme ^[6]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Ciencias Solo, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[2] Imaflora, Inst Manejo & Certificacao Florestal & Agr, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[3] Agrosatelite Geotecnol Aplicada, Florianopolis, SC - Brazil

^[4] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[5] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Ciencias Biol, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[6] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Ctr Ciencias Nat, Buri, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Biota Neotropica; v. 19, n. 4 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

The Native Vegetation Protection Law - 2012 - (NVPL) is the main Brazilian regulation for protecting native vegetation (NV) on private land. The NVPL, currently in the implementation phase, reduced Legal Reserves (LR) requirements compared to its previous version, the 1965's ForestAct (FA), through several legal mechanisms. Among them, Article 68 (Art.68) exempts landholders from LR obligations if NV was converted without offending the legislation in place at the time of the conversion. The technical implementation of Art. 68 is controversial and its effects are still unknown. We developed a model to estimate the effects of Art.68 on LR using Sao Paulo State (Brazil) as case study. We analyzed former environmental laws to identify key periods in which NV preservation requirements had changed. After, we searched for past spatial data on NV cover with sufficient accuracy for each legal benchmark. Combining legal benchmarks with spatial data, we created two scenarios for Art.68 effects, plus a baseline scenario. The first scenario considered a single legal benchmark, the 1965's FA (scenario ``1965{''}), while the other included the 1989 Cerrado's protection Federal Law as a second benchmark (scenario ``1965/89{''}). The baseline scenario did not include Art.68 effects. Scenario ``1965{''} reduced LR deficits in 49% compared to the baseline scenario, waiving landholders from restoration or offsetting needs in 423 thousand hectares (kha) of NV. Scenario ``1965/89{''} waved 507 kha of NV from restoration needs and represented a 59% reduction in LR deficit compared to the baseline scenario. The LR reduction by scenario ``1965/89{''} assumed particular importance considering that the additional cutback was concentrated on Cerrado, an already very fragmented and impacted region. Together with reductions from other NVPL rules, the additional effects of Art. 68 unfolded great concerns about the role of LR as a tool for NV preservation on private land, threating governmental restoration commitments, and pointing that conservation command and control approaches should be complemented with incentive policies to achieve the desired and committed standards. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/17680-2 - Priority areas for Legal Reserve offsetting: research for the development of a decision making tool to enhance transparency in the implementation process of the environmental adjustment program (Programa de Regularização Ambiental - PRA) in São Paulo
• Grantee: Gerd Sparovek
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 13/50718-5 - Ecological restoration of riparian forests, native forest of economic production and of degraded forest fragments (in APP and RL) based on restoration ecology of reference ecosystems in order to scientifically test the precepts of the New Brazilian Forest Code
• Grantee: Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 17/07942-2 - Historical overview patterns of natural vegetation cover in the State of São Paulo as support in the regularization of the compensation mechanisms in Legal Reserve established by the law nº 12.651/2012
• Grantee: Paulo André Tavares
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• FAPESP's process: 17/02755-0 - A participatory process construction and evaluation aiming at a technical part preparation for an Environmental Adjustment Program (EAP) in the state of São Paulo
• Grantee: Alice Dantas Brites
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral