Search Climate Insights Directory

The document serves as a legislative annex, cataloging the federal laws, decrees, and normative instructions, as well as state-level regulations, that govern the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA) in Brazil as of October 2021.

The report provides a detailed 'radiography' of the implementation of the Brazilian Forest Code in 2021. While CAR registration is advanced nationwide, the analysis and validation of these registries remain a critical bottleneck. Only a few states, such as Espírito Santo, have achieved high validation rates. The transition to the final stage—the Environmental Regularization Program (PRA)—is slow due to low producer interest and a lack of legal frameworks in several states. The report highlights the introduction of 'dynamic analysis' by the Brazilian Forest Service (SFB) as a potential accelerator and identifies significant legal uncertainties, particularly regarding the Atlantic Forest and the application of Article 68 of the Forest Code.

The report identifies 12 cases of fire in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes in August 2020, totaling 20,064 hectares of prior deforestation. It links these fires to the preparation of land for pasture or crop production and highlights that major traders like Bunge, Cargill, and JBS are connected to farms engaging in these practices.

The document introduces a high-spatial-resolution life cycle assessment approach to quantify greenhouse gas emissions in agricultural supply chains. Applying this method to Brazilian soy exports between 2010 and 2015, the authors found significant variability in carbon footprints based on sourcing areas and destinations. The highest emissions were linked to soy from Pará and the MATOPIBA states due to natural vegetation loss, with exports to the European Union showing the highest carbon footprint per ton. Total GHG emissions for Brazilian soy exports in this period were estimated at 223.46 million tons, with China as the largest importer.

The report evaluates the state-level implementation of Brazil's Forest Code, highlighting that while most states have made progress in CAR registration, significant bottlenecks exist in the validation phase and the rollout of the PRA. It argues against amending the federal law without considering state-level efforts and emphasizes the need for technical resources, transparency, and a clearer role for the federal government to support lagging states, particularly in the northeast region.

The report provides a detailed 'radiography' of how Brazilian states are implementing the 2012 Forest Code. It identifies the analysis and validation of the CAR as the primary bottleneck and notes that while some states like Espírito Santo, Mato Grosso, and Pará have made significant progress, others remain severely delayed in regulating and operationalizing the PRA. The document also highlights the role of the Brazilian Forest Service (SFB) in developing technological tools to scale these processes.

The report provides a comprehensive 'radiography' of how Brazilian states are implementing the Forest Code. It identifies a significant gap between the high rates of CAR registration and the slow progress of CAR validation and PRA implementation. While some states in the North and Center-West regions are advanced, the Northeast region lags behind. The document highlights systemic barriers, including a lack of technical resources, poor quality of self-declared data, and a heavy dependence on the federal government's SICAR system. It also examines state-specific rules for restoring Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) and Legal Reserves (RL), noting wide variations in restoration deadlines and methodologies.

The report examines the adoption of no-till farming, tractors, and fertilizers in Brazil from 2006 to 2017. It finds that while no-till farming has become more spatially decentralized, tractor use has become more concentrated in wealthy, urbanized regions, and fertilizer use has increased without a clear spatial pattern.

The report identifies three distinct patterns of agricultural technology adoption in Brazil from 2006 to 2017. The Direct Planting System (DPS) is converging, becoming more widespread across the country. Tractor use is diverging, with increased concentration in wealthier, urbanized regions of the South and Southeast. Fertilizer use has increased overall but lacks a clear spatial pattern, with growth scattered across diverse regions including the Cerrado and Caatinga.

The statement by Friends of the Earth International contends that the legal proceedings against Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva are unconstitutional and serve as a tool for conservative elites to block his return to power. It links his detention to a broader pattern of democratic erosion in Brazil, starting with the 2016 removal of Dilma Rousseff, and highlights the resulting negative impacts on social services, indigenous and peasant rights, and the environment. The text specifically criticizes the influence of 'criminal climate' companies like Shell and Chevron under the Michel Temer administration and reports a rise in violence against human rights defenders.

The paper finds that agricultural expansion in the Matopiba region, driven by soy cultivation, significantly increased GDP per capita and improved access to durable goods and electricity in municipalities within the Cerrado biome. While agricultural and services GDP grew, there were no significant effects on manufacturing GDP, local population, or educational outcomes.

This report by Friends of the Earth International documents systemic human rights and environmental violations by transnational corporations (TNCs) across eight Latin American and Caribbean countries. It highlights cases of corporate impunity, the use of investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms to challenge public health and environmental policies, and the violent suppression of territory defenders. The document advocates for a legally binding international treaty to hold TNCs accountable and the creation of an International Tribunal on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations.

The document examines the surge of agricultural production in Brazil's MATOPIBA region, noting that expansion is heavily concentrated in the Cerrado biome. Between 1995 and 2012, Cerrado municipalities saw a 140% greater increase in agricultural production value than non-Cerrado areas, driven by cropland expansion and a shift from rice to soy. This boom led to an 11% higher increase in GDP per capita in Cerrado municipalities between 1999 and 2012, with gains in agricultural and services GDP, as well as improved access to electricity and durable consumer goods. However, the expansion did not significantly impact manufacturing GDP, population size, migration, or access to water and sewage.

The executive summary details how agricultural expansion in the MATOPIBA region, particularly within the Cerrado biome, has driven economic growth through increased grain production and higher per capita GDP, while having limited impact on social infrastructure and human capital.

The document argues that current development and climate policies in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru often conflict, particularly where biofuel and hydropower expansion undermine forest conservation and water security. It advocates for a 'security agenda' based on the water-energy-food nexus to better manage resource trade-offs and improve coordination between national and subnational governments.

The paper finds that agricultural expansion in Matopiba is concentrated in the Cerrado biome, driven by technological innovations in soil management and soy varieties. This expansion led to significant increases in GDP per capita, particularly through direct agricultural growth and indirect spillovers into the services sector. While it improved access to durable consumer goods and electricity, it had no significant impact on migration or human capital investments.

The document outlines the regulatory steps for rural properties in Bahia to achieve environmental compliance, focusing on the registration in the CEFIR system and the management of Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) and Legal Reserves (RL). It details the requirements for vegetation recovery, the use of Environmental Recovery Plans (PRA and PRAD), and options for compensating legal reserve deficits through Environmental Reserve Quotes (CRA) or environmental easements.

The document outlines the procedural steps and criteria for rural properties ≤ 4 fiscal modules in Bahia to regularize their environmental status. It details the roles of the CEFIR registry and the environmental agency in analyzing the Term of Commitment, Environmental Recovery Plans (PRA), and Degraded Area Recovery Plans (PRAD). The flowchart specifies different requirements based on whether Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) and Legal Reserves were consolidated before specific dates (July 22, 2008, and May 28, 2012), and defines recovery methods such as natural regeneration or planting native species. It also establishes specific limits for consolidated APPs based on property size: up to 10% for properties ≤ 2 fiscal modules and up to 20% for those between 2 and 4 fiscal modules.

The document analyzes climate vulnerability in the Bacia do Jacuípe, a poor region in the Brazilian Sertão, where temperatures have risen by approximately 2 °C and rainfall has decreased by about 350 mm since 1962. This environmental shift has led to a decline in average milk productivity, contrasting with overall increases in Bahía and Brazil. To address this, the Adapta Sertão coalition tested various farm-level interventions, finding that efficient irrigation systems and balanced animal diets can reduce production's dependence on climate, suggesting these are viable adaptation strategies for larger-scale implementation in semi-arid regions.

A group of Brazilian and international organizations opposes the approval of Plantar S.A.'s CDM project, "Cultivated Biomass as a Renewable Source of Energy for Pig Iron Production". The authors argue that the project lacks additionality because the company has already been planting eucalyptus since 2000 and that the operations cause significant environmental degradation and social injustices, including the displacement of indigenous and peasant communities.