7.1 National legislation in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay leave large areas of native habitat under threat
The Brazilian Forest Code
The Brazilian Forest Code is the main legislation regulating land use and land management on private properties. It is a key legal instrument in regulating deforestation and conversion of native vegetation. It was first adopted in 1965 and was revised in 2012. Although it has some shortcomings, the Code remains one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation governing forests on private lands in the world. A primary component of the Forest Code is the Legal Reserve (LR) requirement, which mandates private landowners to conserve forests and other native vegetation on their property. In the Amazon biome, landowners are required to keep 80% of their property forested. In the rest of the country, only 20% of a property must be maintained under native vegetation, except in land located in the Legal Amazon area of the Cerrado, where 35% is required.1
The Forest Code addresses other environmental concerns by designating Areas of Permanent Preservation (APPs), which aim to protect water resources and prevent soil erosion.2 There are also mechanisms under the Forest Code which address fire, forest carbon, and payments for ecosystem services. The Environmental Reserve Quota, known by its Portuguese acronym CRA, allows property owners with surplus Legal Reserves (above legally mandated thresholds) to sell credit to rural property owners who currently have a deficit (and are required to compensate for this environmental liability) within the same biome and, preferably, within the same municipality or state. Exchange of CRAs could become a cost-effective way to facilitate compliance, while protecting forest surpluses that might otherwise be legally deforested.
In 2010, the Brazilian government made it mandatory that all rural properties be mapped and registered in a database, known as the CAR (Cadastro Ambiental Rural).3 The database shows geospatial property boundary data as well as environmental information on rural agricultural production. The database is intended to be a strategic tool for controlling, monitoring, and reducing deforestation in Brazil. It allows an unprecedented level of understanding of deforestation patterns, supporting companies actively committed to responsible sourcing, and exposing companies that have not acted to exclude deforestation from their supply chains. Registration in the CAR is also used by financial institutions as a criterion in the consideration of credit worthiness for public and private agricultural loans.
Argentina’s Forest Law
Enacted in 2007, the Forest Law establishes the minimum standards for environmental protection, restoration, conservation, and sustainable management of native forests and increased the amount of forest under strict protection. The law does not apply to primary and secondary forests smaller than 10 hectares that are owned by indigenous communities or small producers.4 The law mandates that each province prepare a Territorial Planning Report that classifies forests into three categories. Class 1 is the most restrictive and does not allow for any type of commercial use, including agriculture; Class 2 allows for agriculture, but requires sustainable practices; and Class 3 is the least restrictive, and permits deforestation and land-use change for agriculture and other purposes.5 Mandatory environmental studies are required before authorizing deforestation.6
Provinces are able to independently classify areas within their provincial boundaries. This has led to varying interpretations of the national law in different provinces. In the Argentine Chaco, provinces have adopted very different zoning maps and land use plans, and deforestation remains high in several Chaco provinces.7 Almost 80% of Argentina’s forest loss has taken place in the northeastern part of the country, in Salta, Santiago del Estero, Chaco and Formosa provinces. In a land use study conducted in 2018 in Santiago del Estero, researchers found that deforestation halved during the five-year period after the enactment of the forest law, but that much of the deforestation occurred in areas where deforestation was forbidden.8
Paraguay’s Zero Deforestation Law
Until 2004, Paraguay had the highest registered deforestation rate in the Americas and second in the world.9 Paraguay adopted a Zero Deforestation Law in 2004 that prohibited the conversion of Paraguay’s Atlantic Forest.10 After the law was enacted, deforestation decreased by 90% in the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest. Outside of the Atlantic Forest, however, deforestation rates increased after the Law, especially in the western Chaco region.11
In 2009, a proposal to extend protections to the Chaco region was rejected.12 Protests by large-scale agricultural business owners and a lack of political will make the protection of areas in Paraguay outside the Atlantic Forest unlikely in the near future.