Deforestation Scale and Farm Size: the Need for Tailoring Policy in Brazil

This research paper examines how the scale of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon shifted from large to small patches between 2002 and 2012. The authors find that the DETER monitoring system, which cannot detect clearings under 25 hectares, led to different behavioral adaptations in Mato Grosso and Pará. In Mato Grosso, large landowners shifted to smaller clearings to avoid detection. In Pará, smallholders remained less visible to law enforcement, leading to a relative increase in the share of deforestation attributable to small properties. The paper concludes that conservation policies must be tailored to regional heterogeneities to be effective.

• Amazon deforestation shifted from large-scale clearings to small increments between 2002 and the early 2010s. Small deforestation polygons (under 25 hectares), which represented less than 25% of total cleared forest in 2002, grew to account for more than 50% of annual deforestation by the early 2010s.
• The DETER monitoring system has a technical limitation where it can only detect forest clearings with a total contiguous area exceeding 25 hectares. This shortcoming likely incentivized landholders to clear forest in smaller patches to avoid detection and law enforcement.
• In Mato Grosso, the shift toward small-scale deforestation was driven by a change in behavior among large landowners. While the scale of clearings decreased, large properties continued to be responsible for approximately 70% of annual state deforestation, suggesting they adapted their practices to elude DETER.
• In Pará, the composition of deforestation changed differently than in Mato Grosso; the relative share of deforestation occurring on small properties increased over time. By 2012, small and large properties each accounted for about 40% of total cleared forest area, compared to 15% and 60% respectively in 2002.
• Smallholders in Pará were less affected by early monitoring efforts because their deforestation practices already primarily involved increments smaller than 25 hectares, making them 'invisible' to DETER. Consequently, deforestation in small properties in Pará decreased by only 69% between 2002 and 2012, whereas it decreased by over 90% in all property categories in Mato Grosso.
• Conservation efforts in Pará were more sensitive to policies introduced in the late 2000s, such as the priority municipalities policy (2008) and the conditioning of rural credit on environmental compliance. The rural credit policy particularly impacted medium and large landowners, as small-scale producers received partial or complete exemptions.

APA

Assunção, J., Gandour, C., Pessoa, P., & Rocha, R. (2015). Deforestation Scale and Farm Size: the Need for Tailoring Policy in Brazil. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Deforestation-Scale-and-Farm-Size-the-Need-for-Tailoring-Policy-in-Brazil-–-Technical-Paper.pdf

Chicago

Assunção, Juliano, Clarissa Gandour, Pedro Pessoa, and Romero Rocha. Deforestation Scale and Farm Size: the Need for Tailoring Policy in Brazil. Climate Policy Initiative, 2015. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Deforestation-Scale-and-Farm-Size-the-Need-for-Tailoring-Policy-in-Brazil-–-Technical-Paper.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Assunção |first1=Juliano |last2=Gandour |first2=Clarissa |last3=Pessoa |first3=Pedro |last4=Rocha |first4=Romero |title=Deforestation Scale and Farm Size: the Need for Tailoring Policy in Brazil |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=August 2015 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Deforestation-Scale-and-Farm-Size-the-Need-for-Tailoring-Policy-in-Brazil-–-Technical-Paper.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{assuno2015deforestation, author = {Assunção, Juliano and Gandour, Clarissa and Pessoa, Pedro and Rocha, Romero}, title = {{Deforestation Scale and Farm Size: the Need for Tailoring Policy in Brazil}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2015}, month = aug, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Deforestation-Scale-and-Farm-Size-the-Need-for-Tailoring-Policy-in-Brazil-–-Technical-Paper.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }