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This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) analyzes the financing landscape for highway and railroad projects in Brazil's North Region and nationwide between 2012 and 2021. It identifies a heavy reliance on public funding, particularly from the federal government and BNDES, while noting a growing but still limited role for private capital via incentivized debentures. The report emphasizes that infrastructure in the Amazon is a primary driver of deforestation and calls for strengthened governance, increased transparency, and rigorous socio-environmental criteria to ensure that future investments do not cause further ecological damage.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes the conceptual, regulatory, and institutional landscape of the bioeconomy in Brazil, with a specific focus on the Amazon region. It utilizes a framework of three 'visions'—biotechnology, bioresources, and bioecology—to categorize different strategic approaches and identify conflicts and alignments within Brazil's fragmented governance and regulatory structures.

This report argues that Brazilian public policy focuses excessively on clear-cut deforestation while overlooking forest degradation in the Amazon. The author contends that degradation—defined as the partial loss of vegetation—is a distinct phenomenon with its own drivers that contributes significantly more to greenhouse gas emissions and biomass loss than deforestation does, necessitating a shift in how Brazil monitors and reports environmental performance.

This policy brief by the Climate Policy Initiative argues that forest degradation in the Amazon is a critical but overlooked threat to climate goals. It highlights that degradation often causes more biomass loss and carbon emissions than clear-cutting deforestation, yet it remains largely absent from Brazil's official environmental metrics and greenhouse gas inventories.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) proposes a 12-point action plan to decouple terrestrial infrastructure development from deforestation in the Amazon. The agenda focuses on three pillars: improving the public administration's decision-making process to anticipate socio-environmental analysis, enhancing the quality of socio-environmental studies, and increasing transparency in federal concessions.

The 'Roadmap for Sustainable Infrastructure in the Amazon' report by Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) proposes a framework to decouple land transport infrastructure from deforestation in the Amazon. The report identifies systemic failures in the decision-making process, the quality of socio-environmental studies, and transparency, offering twelve specific recommendations to improve project viability and reduce environmental risks.

This concept note from the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) and FAPESP, submitted to the Belmont Forum Plenary, proposes a transdisciplinary and participatory initiative to address urgent threats to the Amazon region. The proposal emphasizes the link between biodiversity loss, climate change, and human health, while advocating for the protection of indigenous knowledge and the implementation of environmental governance frameworks.

Friends of the Earth International issued a statement condemning the June 2022 assassinations of Brazilian indigenist activist Bruno Araújo Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips in the Vale do Javari region of Brazil's Amazonas state.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes how Brazilian mining regulations, specifically the distinction between industrial mining and 'garimpeiro' (artisanal) mining, are being exploited by cooperatives to conduct industrial-scale operations under a weaker regulatory framework. It argues that two February 2022 presidential decrees further exacerbate this contradiction by providing incentives and simplified licensing to these cooperatives, which often operate on a larger scale than major industrial mining companies in the Amazon.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) argues that Brazilian presidential decrees from February 2022 exacerbate a regulatory gap in the mining sector, allowing gold mining cooperatives to operate as industrial entities while benefiting from lenient regulations intended for vulnerable individual miners. The authors call for the revocation of these decrees to better protect the environment and improve oversight in the Amazon.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) analyzes the disparity between large-scale infrastructure projects and local quality-of-life infrastructure in the state of Pará, Brazil. It argues that the prioritization of logistics for commodity exports has neglected basic services such as sanitation, health, and education, particularly in low-density areas and regions surrounding planned major projects.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) and WWF-Brasil analyzes the impact of Decree No. 9,760/2019, which introduced a mandatory environmental conciliation stage in the administrative process for environmental infractions in the Amazon. The study finds that this new system has led to a severe paralysis of punitive actions, with 98% of relevant infraction notices stalled by May 2021 due to Ibama's inability to conduct the required hearings. The report also highlights a broader trend of weakening environmental control since 2015 and significant transparency gaps in Ibama's open data portal.

This research paper by the Climate Policy Initiative and PUC-Rio analyzes the relationship between forest fires and subsequent deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon from 2013 to 2020. The study finds that while forest fires are not systematically used as a direct first step to clear vegetation in the same location, they serve as a strong leading indicator of imminent deforestation in the surrounding vicinity, particularly in rural settlements and occupied public lands.

This research paper by the Climate Policy Initiative analyzes the relationship between forest degradation and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon from 2017 to 2020 using data from the DETER and PRODES monitoring systems. The study finds that while direct local conversion from degradation to deforestation is low, there is a strong spatial association, with a significant portion of deforestation occurring in the immediate vicinity of previously degraded areas, particularly in medium or large private properties, rural settlements, and undesignated areas.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) analyzes the relationship between forest degradation and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon from 2017 to 2020 using data from INPE's DETER and PRODES systems. It finds that while direct local conversion from degradation to deforestation is low, a significant portion of deforestation occurs in the vicinity of previously degraded areas, suggesting that degradation can serve as a regional risk indicator for future forest loss.

This technical note by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) analyzes a legislative report by Senator Carlos Fávaro regarding Bill (PL) nº 510/2021, which proposes changes to the legal framework for land regularization in Brazil. The authors argue that the report favors medium and large land occupants while offering no benefits to small farmers, potentially incentivizing illegal deforestation and land grabbing (grilagem).

This case study by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) analyzes the governance and environmental risks associated with four federal transport infrastructure projects in the state of Pará: Ferrogrão, BR-155/158, BR-163/230/MT/PA, and BR-230. Using a 'market access approach' to quantify deforestation risks, the study finds that these projects collectively threaten nearly 7,000 square kilometers of Amazonian native vegetation, with over half of the impact concentrated in Pará. The report highlights significant transparency issues regarding project documentation and urges the Pará state government to engage in dialogue with the federal government to integrate deforestation control funding into project designs.

This case study by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) analyzes the governance, areas of influence, and environmental risks associated with four federal transport infrastructure projects in the state of Pará: Ferrogrão, BR-155/158, BR-163/230/MT/PA, and BR-230. Using a 'market access approach' to quantify deforestation risks, the study finds that these projects collectively threaten nearly 7,000 square kilometers of native Amazon vegetation, with over half of that impact occurring in Pará. The report highlights significant transparency issues regarding project documentation and argues that the state government should engage in earlier dialogue with the federal government to incorporate mitigation costs and deforestation control into project designs.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) analyzes the governance, influence areas, and environmental risks of four federal transport infrastructure projects in the state of Pará: the Ferrogrão railway and the BR-155/158, BR-163/230/MT/PA, and BR-230 highways. The study highlights a systemic lack of transparency in socio-environmental documentation and uses a market-access methodology to quantify the risk of deforestation associated with these projects.

This technical note by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI/PUC-Rio) analyzes Bill (PL) No. 1709/2019, which proposes to reduce the width of Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs) along watercourses across Brazil. The authors warn that the bill's substitute text would halve the required protection widths, potentially enabling the deforestation of over 2 million hectares of native forest in the Amazon.