INSIGHTS THE BRAZILIAN FOREST CODE FINALLY CAN BE IMPLEMENTED. WHAT’S NEXT?

This briefing by the Climate Policy Initiative and Agroicone outlines the practical implications of a Supreme Court decision regarding the implementation of the Brazilian Forest Code. It details the legal regimes for landowners based on deforestation dates, the role of the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA), and specific rules for Legal Forest Reserve recovery and compensation.

• The Supreme Court established a special legal regime for landowners who illegally deforested Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) and Legal Forest Reserves prior to July 2008. To access benefits—such as flexible APP size requirements, the option to offset Legal Forest Reserves, and the use of up to 50% exotic species for restoration—these landowners must enroll in the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA) and sign a Commitment Agreement. Environmental fines for these individuals are suspended until regularization is complete.
• Landowners who deforested after July 2008 are subject to stricter requirements than those who deforested before that date. They must immediately stop agricultural or forestry activities in those areas and recover the entire area; unlike those in the special regime, their fines and sanctions are not suspended.
• The Supreme Court upheld several exemptions and flexibility measures for Legal Forest Reserves: small properties (up to four fiscal models) are exempt from restoring deficits if deforested before July 2008, and recovery is not required if deforestation complied with the legislation in force at the time it occurred.
• Landowners who deforested Legal Forest Reserves before July 2008 can compensate off-site via four methods: purchasing an Environmental Reserve Quota (CRA), establishing conservation easement agreements, donating areas in public Protected Areas pending regularization, or using surplus areas on other properties they own. However, the Court introduced a requirement that CRA compensation must share the same "ecological identity" rather than just being in the same biome, a term that currently lacks a legal definition.
• In the Amaznia Legal, the Legal Forest Reserve requirement may be reduced from 80% to 50% in specific cases: municipalities where over 50% of the territory is public Protected Areas and homologated Indigenous Lands, or states with approved Ecological-Economic Zoning where over 65% of the territory is such land. This reduction is not an immediate right but depends on public authority decisions.
• The Supreme Court ruled that intermittent water springs are considered Permanent Preservation Areas (APP), requiring landowners to rectify their registration in the CAR to declare these areas as such.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2018). INSIGHTS THE BRAZILIAN FOREST CODE FINALLY CAN BE IMPLEMENTED. WHAT’S NEXT? https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CPI_Agroicone_Insights_Forest_Code_-_Whats_Next.pdf

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. INSIGHTS THE BRAZILIAN FOREST CODE FINALLY CAN BE IMPLEMENTED. WHAT’S NEXT? 2018. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CPI_Agroicone_Insights_Forest_Code_-_Whats_Next.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=INSIGHTS THE BRAZILIAN FOREST CODE FINALLY CAN BE IMPLEMENTED. WHAT’S NEXT? |date=March 2018 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CPI_Agroicone_Insights_Forest_Code_-_Whats_Next.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2018insights, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{INSIGHTS THE BRAZILIAN FOREST CODE FINALLY CAN BE IMPLEMENTED. WHAT’S NEXT?}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2018}, month = mar, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CPI_Agroicone_Insights_Forest_Code_-_Whats_Next.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }