DETERring Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Environmental Monitoring and Law Enforcement

The report finds that the implementation of the satellite-based DETER system was the primary driver of the deforestation slowdown in the Brazilian Amazon during the 2000s. By enabling the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) to target law enforcement more effectively, these policies prevented the clearing of over 59,500 km² of forest from 2007 to 2011. The analysis indicates that these conservation efforts did not adversely affect agricultural production and provided significant net monetary gains when compared to the costs of monitoring and enforcement.

• The implementation of the Real Time System for Detection of Deforestation (DETER) was the primary cause of the deforestation slowdown in the 2000s, providing the basis for targeting monitoring and law enforcement activities.
• Between 2007 and 2011, DETER-based monitoring and law enforcement prevented the clearing of more than 59,500 km² of forest. During this period, observed deforestation was 41,500 km², which is 59% lower than it would have been without the policy change.
• A simulation assuming a total absence of monitoring and law enforcement from 2007 to 2011 suggests that over 164,200 km² of forest would have been cleared, meaning such activities preserved more than 122,700 km².
• The cost of monitoring and law enforcement is highly efficient; any carbon price above 0.76 USD/tCO2 would compensate for the combined budgets of Ibama (USD 560 million in 2011) and INPE (USD 125 million in 2010).
• The increase in monitoring and law enforcement stringency had no negative impact on local agricultural production, suggesting that forest preservation and economic growth can occur simultaneously.
• The effectiveness of law enforcement is currently limited by DETER's inability to detect land cover patterns in cloud-covered areas, suggesting that improving monitoring technology could further increase effectiveness.

APA

Assunção, J., Gandour, C., & Rocha, R. (2013). DETERring Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Environmental Monitoring and Law Enforcement. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DETERring-Deforestation-in-the-Brazilian-Amazon-Environmental-Monitoring-and-Law-Enforcement-Executive-Summary.pdf

Chicago

Assunção, Juliano, Clarissa Gandour, and Romero Rocha. DETERring Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Environmental Monitoring and Law Enforcement. Climate Policy Initiative, 2013. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DETERring-Deforestation-in-the-Brazilian-Amazon-Environmental-Monitoring-and-Law-Enforcement-Executive-Summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Assunção |first1=Juliano |last2=Gandour |first2=Clarissa |last3=Rocha |first3=Romero |title=DETERring Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Environmental Monitoring and Law Enforcement |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=May 2013 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DETERring-Deforestation-in-the-Brazilian-Amazon-Environmental-Monitoring-and-Law-Enforcement-Executive-Summary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{assuno2013deterring, author = {Assunção, Juliano and Gandour, Clarissa and Rocha, Romero}, title = {{DETERring Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Environmental Monitoring and Law Enforcement}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2013}, month = may, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DETERring-Deforestation-in-the-Brazilian-Amazon-Environmental-Monitoring-and-Law-Enforcement-Executive-Summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }