Brazil Overturns State Zoning Law that Threatened Amazon Forests

A case study by the World Resources Institute detailing how a civil society campaign and legal action led to the suspension of a state zoning law in Mato Grosso, Brazil, which had opened 50,000 km2 of forest for agricultural conversion.

• In early 2011, the state legislature of Mato Grosso passed a zoning law (ZSEE) that designated 50,000 km2 of new forest areas for conversion to agriculture. Following a civil society campaign and a public civil action suit, the law was suspended by an injunction from Mato Grosso’s State Court in February 2012, citing 'vices of form' and risks to 'natural goods and services and sustainable development'. In March 2012, Brazil’s Federal Zoning Commission required the state government to redraft the legislation.
• The Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV) led the campaign against the ZSEE by providing analysis that was utilized by researchers, indigenous peoples, social movements, legislators, and prosecutors. This effort was supported by a 2010 governance assessment conducted by ICV using the GFI Framework of Indicators (v.1), a tool developed by WRI, ICV, and IMAZON, which documented expert and civil society inputs into the bill's drafting from 2000 to 2010.
• Within one month of the Governor sanctioning the ZSEE, IMAZON recorded a deforestation spike of over 500 percent in Mato Grosso. While public outcry and state enforcement actions helped stabilize the rate, the document asserts that the State Court and Federal Zoning Commission decisions were necessary to prevent the increase from lasting longer, as the law had sanctioned previous clearing and permitted new clearing.

APA

World Resources Institute (2013). Brazil Overturns State Zoning Law that Threatened Amazon Forests. https://www.wri.org/outcomes/brazil-overturns-state-zoning-law-threatened-amazon-forests

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Brazil Overturns State Zoning Law that Threatened Amazon Forests. 2013. https://www.wri.org/outcomes/brazil-overturns-state-zoning-law-threatened-amazon-forests.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Brazil Overturns State Zoning Law that Threatened Amazon Forests |date=2 July 2013 |url=https://www.wri.org/outcomes/brazil-overturns-state-zoning-law-threatened-amazon-forests |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2013brazil, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Brazil Overturns State Zoning Law that Threatened Amazon Forests}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2013}, month = jul, url = {https://www.wri.org/outcomes/brazil-overturns-state-zoning-law-threatened-amazon-forests}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }