FOREST AND LAND USE POLICIES ON PRIVATE LANDS: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND THE UNITED STATES

This executive summary provides a comparative legal analysis of forest protection and land use legislation across seven major agricultural exporting countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, and the United States. The study specifically examines riparian buffer zones and biodiversity conservation policies on private lands to contextualize the stringency of the Brazilian Forest Code (Law No. 12.651/2012).

• Brazil maintains the most stringent regulations on private land regarding riparian buffer zones and ecological buffers among the studied countries. Its no-harvest zones range from 30 to 500 meters wide depending on river width, though a special regime allows for widths between five and 100 meters.
• Brazil is the only country in the comparison that mandates all private properties to set aside a percentage of land for biodiversity protection—known as Legal Forest Reserves—without providing financial compensation. This requirement varies from 20% to 80% of the property area based on location and vegetation type.
• While most assessed countries have shifted toward more stringent forest policies emphasizing environmental value, the majority of these policies still focus primarily on economic activity. To protect biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems, countries often rely on supplementary policies regarding soil, water resources, and at-risk species.
• Forest ownership and the resulting legal regimes vary significantly by country. In Canada, forestland is predominantly public and subject to a strict legal regime. In contrast, France has a higher proportion of private forests and employs two distinct juridical procedures, with public forests facing stricter rules than private ones.
• Many countries utilize financial incentives to encourage private land conservation. The United States uses the 2014 Farm Bill to fund programs like the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Forest Legacy Program (FLP), while the EU provides co-financing for biodiversity through mechanisms like the Natura 2000 contracts in France.
• The Brazilian Forest Code of 2012 is described as retaining relatively stringent rules compared to other countries, despite having weakened some protection parameters for areas illegally used for agriculture before 2008. Its success in promoting sustainability depends on full implementation and enforcement.

APA

Chiavari, J., & Lopes, C. L. (2017). FOREST AND LAND USE POLICIES ON PRIVATE LANDS: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND THE UNITED STATES. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Forest_and_Land_Use_Policies_on_Private_Lands-an_International_Comparison-1.pdf

Chicago

Chiavari, Joana, and Cristina Leme Lopes. FOREST AND LAND USE POLICIES ON PRIVATE LANDS: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND THE UNITED STATES. Climate Policy Initiative, 2017. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Forest_and_Land_Use_Policies_on_Private_Lands-an_International_Comparison-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chiavari |first1=Joana |last2=Lopes |first2=Cristina Leme |title=FOREST AND LAND USE POLICIES ON PRIVATE LANDS: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND THE UNITED STATES |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=October 2017 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Forest_and_Land_Use_Policies_on_Private_Lands-an_International_Comparison-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chiavari2017forest, author = {Chiavari, Joana and Lopes, Cristina Leme}, title = {{FOREST AND LAND USE POLICIES ON PRIVATE LANDS: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND THE UNITED STATES}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2017}, month = oct, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Forest_and_Land_Use_Policies_on_Private_Lands-an_International_Comparison-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }