The Lack of Control of Legal Deforestation in MATOPIBA: Regulation and Governance of Authorizations for the Suppression of Vegetation

The report identifies critical gaps in the governance of legal deforestation in the MATOPIBA region (Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia), where agricultural expansion for soy and corn drives significant vegetation loss. It highlights a lack of clarity in legal competence between state and municipal authorities for issuing Authorizations for the Suppression of Vegetation (ASV) and the failure of the national SINAFLOR system to serve as an effective management tool. Key issues include underreporting of ASVs, a lack of public transparency regarding georeferenced data, and technical incompatibilities between state and federal systems. The authors recommend that the federal government clarify issuing competencies, improve SINAFLOR's functionality, and ensure open access to complete ASV data to support the goal of zero deforestation by 2030.

• The MATOPIBA region, comprising Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia, was responsible for 75% of the Cerrado biome's deforestation in 2023, with over half of the biome's total deforestation estimated to be legal.
• There is legal uncertainty regarding whether municipalities or states have the authority to issue ASVs for agricultural activities on rural properties. While Law no. 140/2011 suggests the licensing authority issues the ASV, it also specifies states as the entities in charge of ASVs on rural properties, leading some municipalities in MATOPIBA to issue them despite objections from entities like the Public Prosecutor Ministry of the State of Bahia.
• SINAFLOR, the national system intended to control the origin of forest products, is ineffective as a comprehensive management tool for legal deforestation. It contains only a portion of all issued ASVs because some state agencies, such as in Bahia, do not register authorizations that do not involve the use of forest products, and municipal ASVs are frequently omitted.
• Cerrado states face significant technical hurdles when integrating their data with SINAFLOR, including a lack of standardized requirements for applications, a database that lacks many Cerrado-specific plant species, a rigid interface that prevents data editing, and the system's inability to process ASV validity renewals.
• Public access to ASV data in MATOPIBA is severely limited. State databases are not public, and federal platforms like the Brazilian Open Data Portal provide incomplete information; for example, an analysis of 1,738 ASV requests between 2017 and 2021 found that none provided essential geographic coordinates or requested suppression areas.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2024). The Lack of Control of Legal Deforestation in MATOPIBA: Regulation and Governance of Authorizations for the Suppression of Vegetation. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-lack-of-control-of-legal-deforestation-in-matopiba-regulation-and-governance-of-authorizations-for-the-suppression-of-vegetation/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. The Lack of Control of Legal Deforestation in MATOPIBA: Regulation and Governance of Authorizations for the Suppression of Vegetation. 2024. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-lack-of-control-of-legal-deforestation-in-matopiba-regulation-and-governance-of-authorizations-for-the-suppression-of-vegetation/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=The Lack of Control of Legal Deforestation in MATOPIBA: Regulation and Governance of Authorizations for the Suppression of Vegetation |date=14 March 2024 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-lack-of-control-of-legal-deforestation-in-matopiba-regulation-and-governance-of-authorizations-for-the-suppression-of-vegetation/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2024lack, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{The Lack of Control of Legal Deforestation in MATOPIBA: Regulation and Governance of Authorizations for the Suppression of Vegetation}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2024}, month = mar, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/the-lack-of-control-of-legal-deforestation-in-matopiba-regulation-and-governance-of-authorizations-for-the-suppression-of-vegetation/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }