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

The research finds that while centralized conservation policies successfully reduced medium- and large-scale deforestation in both Mato Grosso and Pará, the impact on small-scale deforestation varied by state. In Mato Grosso, large landowners adapted by clearing forest in smaller patches to elude the DETER monitoring system, which cannot detect clearings under 25 hectares. In Pará, smallholders were more persistent in deforesting because their clearings were predominantly smaller than 25 hectares and thus remained invisible to law enforcement. The authors argue that the apparent similarity in deforestation scale across states masks critical differences in the agents involved, necessitating tailored regional policies.

• Amazon deforestation shifted from large-scale clearings to small increments between 2002 and the early 2010s; small deforestation polygons (under 25 hectares) grew from accounting for less than a quarter of total cleared area in 2002 to more than half in the early 2010s.
• The DETER monitoring system, implemented in 2004, has a technical limitation where it can only detect contiguous forest clearings larger than 25 hectares, making smaller clearings less likely to be targeted by law enforcement.
• In Mato Grosso, large landowners adapted their behavior to elude monitoring by switching to small-scale clearing practices, while the relative share of total deforestation attributable to large properties remained stable at approximately 70%.
• In Pará, the share of deforestation attributable to small properties increased from 15% in 2002 to about 40% by 2012, as smallholders were less visible to DETER and thus less targeted by law enforcement.
• Deforestation in small properties in Pará was more persistent than in other categories; while deforestation decreased by over 90% for all property sizes in Mato Grosso and for medium/large properties in Pará, it only decreased by 69% for small properties in Pará.
• Baseline differences in property size and economic activity contributed to the varying policy impacts: Mato Grosso is dominated by large-scale commercial soybean farming, whereas Pará has more smallholders engaged in informal cattle ranching.

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} }