Opportunities and challenges for forest replacement in the Amazon and Cerrado
A study carried out by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) with the support of the Land Innovation Fund analyzes the importance of the forest replacement mechanism for the recovery of ecosystems.
More than ten years after the publication of the Brazilian Forest Code, the implementation of the forest replenishment instrument is still ineffective in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the Climate Policy Initiative/PUC-Rio, with the support of the Land Innovation Fund, recently published by the institution. Analyzing the forestry legislation of the territories of Acre, Amazonas, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Bahia, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Piauí and Tocantins, the institution argues that forest replacement is still implemented under the logic of supplying raw materials for the consumer market, and not to recover ecosystems.
"This is an outdated vision that sees forests as nothing but stocks of biomass. We need a paradigm shift for forest replacement to be interpreted as an environmental offset mechanism," says Cristina Leme Lopes, senior research manager at the CPI/PUC-Rio and author of the study.
In addition to the loss of raw material in forests, deforestation provokes a loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services and more greenhouse gas emissions. The researcher believes that calculating forest replacement should consider the ecological criteria of the deforested area: the location, the size of the area and the type of vegetation suppressed. Of the states analyzed, only São Paulo currently adopts such environmental criteria for this calculation.
In contrast, a Goias state law exempts deforestation caused by agriculture, livestock, and forestry – the activities with the greatest impacts due to land-use conversion – from any obligation to offset or compensate for deforestation.
Forest replacement becomes even more necessary in a context of intense deforestation in the Cerrado and the Amazon. In the first semester of 2023, the Cerrado broke its own record, with 4,408 km2 cleared, according to official Deter data. In the Amazon, despite a recent decline, there was significant deforestation in recent years, with a sharp jump of 76% from 2018 to 2021.
"If the federal government's goal is net zero deforestation in 2030, we need to advance in forest replacement. And this requires coordinated actions with state governments," says Cristina Leme Lopes. Forest replacement is regulated at both federal and state levels by the Forest Code as well as by the states' respective forest laws.
The three most common modalities of forest replacement set forth in Brazilian law are planting trees, preferably with native species, payment in cash or proof of planting by a third party. Payment of the replacement fee has been the main option adopted by Amazonas, Bahia, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais and Pará. The study shows, however, that the fees collected are not being put into forest restoration projects.
“We need a paradigm shift for forest replacement to be interpreted as an environmental offset mechanism," says Cristina Leme Lopes, senior research manager at the CPI/PUC-Rio and author of the study.
The study also warns that reforestation is being carried out in areas much smaller than the area of suppressed vegetation. Many states adopt standards that require restoration of only one-third of the area cleared in the Amazon and only one-fifth of the area cleared in the Cerrado.
"Brazil has legal arrangements for forest replenishment but needs to improve them. Changes in state regulations could ensure effective offsets for legal deforestation and the restoration of priority areas for conservation," concludes Cristina Leme Lopes.
The study was carried out in collaboration with the Land Innovation Fund (LIF) as part of a larger project to enable ecological corridors and protect priority conservation areas by encouraging agricultural production with no deforestation or conversion of native vegetation.
"The project carried out by the Climate Policy Initiative with support by the Land Innovation Fund underscores the importance of improving, implementing or qualifying public policies for environmental conservation and restoration, and reaffirms our commitment to fostering innovative solutions for sustainable and deforestation-free agriculture, in line with the international environmental and climate agenda," says Ashley Valle, Director of the Land Innovation Fund.