Brazil & Southern Cone - March 2009 (ISSN 1741-4431)

One year on from the introduction of a major anti illegal logging operation, the inherent difficulties of policing the vast Amazon region remain all too apparent. With reports suggesting that illegal logging activities have returned to areas previously targeted by the clampdown, the government of President Lula da Silva is experimenting with new landholding schemes to tackle the problem of illegal deforestation.    

Launched in February 2008, Operation 'Arc of Fire' achieved significant results in its first months of activity. Focusing on the Amazonian states of Pará, Mato Grosso and Rondônia and mobilizing over 600 government officials, the operation seized over 50,000m ³ of illegally felled wood and handed out US$25.9m in fines by mid April. President Lula pledged a fund of $118m to tackle the problem of illegal logging in Brazil, as concerns about the effect of deforestation on the environment (and on the country's reputation), heightened. 

The impact of Operation Arc of Fire on deforestation is unclear.  Latest figures from the National Space Research Institute (Inpe) suggested a marked slowing in the year-on-year rate of deforestation in late 2008. Between November 2008 and January 2009, 754,000km ² of land was cleared, compared to 2.53m km ² in the same period of 2007, a decline of 70% in annual terms. While that figure looks impressive, the Inpe noted increased cloud cover in the 2008 period. Lower global demand and falling prices for beef and soya may also have played an important part.

In the past Brasilia has adopted a policy of 'naming and shaming' those entities responsible for the most serious deforestation and promised to launch legal proceedings against them. The environment minster, Carlos Minc, has also pledged to boost the ranks of the federal police task force detailed to environmental crimes to 3,000 and, at the end of February, he signed a decree ending the need to gain authorization from state governors before sending federal agents to investigate environmental crimes. Authorisation will now be given by the Brazilian Institute of Envrionment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) instead.

The federal government's relationship with state governors in the Amazon has been strained in the past and the new ruling will not be warmly received by Blairo Maggi, the governor of Mato Grosso and an outspoken critic of federal deforestation policy.

On a more conciliatory note, however, the government has shown a willingness to include state governors in efforts to recast land regulations in the region. A pilot project in the village of São Luis do Anauá, in Roroaima state, has transferred land titles on plots under 100 hectares (ha) to those that work them. Larger plots are sold using pricing mechanisms or kept by the state.  If the pilot scheme proves successful, the government plans to extend it to other areas of the Amazon over the next three years. The move represents a further erosion in the influence of the National Institute for Land Settlement and Agrarian Reform (Incra), which has been roundly criticized by governors and Minc alike.

The combination of 'stick' and 'carrot' - tough punishments for illegal loggers and greater opportunities for small scale farmers - is a necessary one if Brazil is to reach its deforestation goals. In November 2008, Brazil announced that it would slow its rate of deforestation to 5,500km ² per year by 2017, a decrease of 70%. Predictably, however, the biggest challenge is one of enforcement. The satellite photography used by Inpe is not sophisticated enough to detect all types of deforestation and its results are frequently inhibited by heavy cloud cover. Minc has claimed that he needs at least another 1,000 federal agents and 1,500 environmental inspectors to police the Amazon properly.

• State offenders

According to the latest Inpe figures, deforestation was highest in the state of Pará in the three months to January 2009 (318.7 km ²), followed by Mato Grosso (272.1km ²) and Maranhão (88.4km ²).  The government spent R$3.5bn (US$1.45bn) on deforestation in 2008, up from R$2.2bn (US$0.92bn) in 2007, according to official figures.