Getting Greener by Going Black: The Priority Municipalities in Brazil

The research finds that the blacklisting of priority municipalities in the Brazilian Amazon significantly reduced deforestation, avoiding the clearing of approximately 11,218 to 11,396 km2 of forest from 2008 to 2011. The authors conclude that this effect was primarily driven by intensified monitoring and law enforcement—specifically an increase in the number of fines—rather than economic sanctions. The study demonstrates that the policy had no significant negative impact on agricultural GDP, crop production, or rural credit concessions, suggesting that forest protection in the region does not necessarily constrain agricultural production.

• The Priority Municipalities (MPs) policy significantly reduced deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, avoiding the clearing of 11,218 km2 of forest area from 2008 through 2011.
• The reduction in deforestation was primarily driven by the monitoring and law enforcement channel, as the effect of the MPs policy disappears when controlling for the number of fines applied by Ibama.

APA

Assunção, J., & Rocha, R. (2014). Getting Greener by Going Black: The Priority Municipalities in Brazil. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Getting-Greener-by-Going-Black-Technical-Paper.pdf

Chicago

Assunção, Juliano, and Romero Rocha. Getting Greener by Going Black: The Priority Municipalities in Brazil. Climate Policy Initiative, 2014. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Getting-Greener-by-Going-Black-Technical-Paper.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Assunção |first1=Juliano |last2=Rocha |first2=Romero |title=Getting Greener by Going Black: The Priority Municipalities in Brazil |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=August 2014 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Getting-Greener-by-Going-Black-Technical-Paper.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{assuno2014getting, author = {Assunção, Juliano and Rocha, Romero}, title = {{Getting Greener by Going Black: The Priority Municipalities in Brazil}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2014}, month = aug, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Getting-Greener-by-Going-Black-Technical-Paper.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }