Implementação do Código Florestal em Roraima: redução de reserva legal de 80% para 50% pode acelerar o desmatamento no estado

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes the decision by the state of Roraima to reduce the Legal Reserve (Reserva Legal) requirement from 80% to 50% in forest areas. The authors argue that this policy change, enabled by the 2012 Forest Code and the state's 2022 Ecological-Economic Zoning (ZEE-RR), may accelerate deforestation, contradict national climate goals, and set a precedent for other Amazonian states.

• The state of Roraima implemented a reduction in the Legal Reserve requirement for forest areas from 80% to 50% through a series of legal actions in 2022. This included the approval of the state's Ecological-Economic Zoning (ZEE) and the creation of four new public-domain Conservation Units (UCs) to meet the legal threshold of having over 65% of its territory occupied by public UCs and homologated Indigenous Lands.
• The reduction of the Legal Reserve in Roraima could lead to the loss of legal protection for approximately two million hectares of land, which contain roughly 267 million tonnes of carbon. Furthermore, 70% of the areas eligible for this reduction across Amazonas, Roraima, and Amapá overlap with priority conservation areas, with half of those being of extremely high importance for biodiversity.
• Deforestation in Roraima is already increasing, primarily in private areas or public lands destined for agrarian reform and land regularization. MapBiomas data indicates 8,121 deforestation alerts between 2019 and 2022, covering 93,205 hectares, of which only 12.3% was authorized. Only 8% of illegally deforested areas were subject to federal enforcement actions.
• There are concerns regarding the legal validity of the reduction because the Forest Code requires Conservation Units to be 'duly regularized' without land tenure disputes. While Roraima claims to meet the 65% threshold on paper, academic publications and a Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) audit suggest significant land tenure issues and irregular occupations in these areas.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2023). Implementação do Código Florestal em Roraima: redução de reserva legal de 80% para 50% pode acelerar o desmatamento no estado. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/pt-br/publication/implementacao-do-codigo-florestal-em-roraima-reducao-de-reserva-legal-de-80-para-50-pode-acelerar-o-desmatamento-no-estado/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Implementação do Código Florestal em Roraima: redução de reserva legal de 80% para 50% pode acelerar o desmatamento no estado. 2023. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/pt-br/publication/implementacao-do-codigo-florestal-em-roraima-reducao-de-reserva-legal-de-80-para-50-pode-acelerar-o-desmatamento-no-estado/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Implementação do Código Florestal em Roraima: redução de reserva legal de 80% para 50% pode acelerar o desmatamento no estado |date=22 June 2023 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/pt-br/publication/implementacao-do-codigo-florestal-em-roraima-reducao-de-reserva-legal-de-80-para-50-pode-acelerar-o-desmatamento-no-estado/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2023implementao, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Implementação do Código Florestal em Roraima: redução de reserva legal de 80\% para 50\% pode acelerar o desmatamento no estado}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/pt-br/publication/implementacao-do-codigo-florestal-em-roraima-reducao-de-reserva-legal-de-80-para-50-pode-acelerar-o-desmatamento-no-estado/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }