State of the Rainforest 2014

Confiscated timber On 2 June 2005, three months into implementation of the plan, the first of a series of mega-operations against illegal logging, deforestation and land-grabbing was conducted. It brought dozens of people to prison in one day, including civil servants. By the end of 2009, more than 700 persons had been imprisoned and over one million cubic meters of timber had been confiscated. Crucial to the success of these command and control operations was the involvement of the federal police, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and for operational and logistic support, the armed forces. Also in 2005, the Brazilian Space Agency INPE launched its System for Detection of Deforestation in Real Time (DETER). Its monthly/ fortnightly information on pockets of deforestation significantly reduced the response time for law enforcement agencies to arrive at deforestation locations. In 2008 INPE launched a system for the detection of forest degradation (DEGRAD); which indicates areas at high risk of deforestation, thereby stimulating preventive actions. Especially important have been the transparency and openness that INPE provided regarding the data, which allowed the media and civil society to follow the issue closely. This process included the creation of independent monitoring systems, like the SAD system developed by the non-governmental organization Imazon.

Parallel to the strengthened law enforcement and improved monitoring, extensive efforts were initiated for the demarcation of indigenous territories and the creation of protected areas. Between 2005 and 2008 more than 500,000 km 2 of federal and state-level protected areas were created, more than 130,000 km 2 were declared indigenous territories, and another 170,000 km 2 of existing territories were granted final legal recognition. Reducing the amount of unassigned public forests in the Amazon served to reduce the speculation value of the land, and consequently the incentive for deforestation. Between 2008 and 2009 there came strong pressures for relaxing the fight against deforestation. The level, which had dropped from 27 to about 11,000 km 2 stopped falling and threatened to increase. Then the second phase of PPCDAM was initiated, aimed at breaking the economic chain that upholds deforestation. Municipalities with the highest deforestation rates in the region had their access to rural credits restricted. That forced them to reduce deforestation and initiate environmental regulation of rural properties in order to regain access to credits. Also a ‘trade restriction’ was established for illegally deforested areas, holding every link in the supply chain responsible if they acquired products from the restricted areas. During the same period pilots for creating a Rural Environmental Register that separated the issue of environmental compliance from the issue of confirmed land tenure, was initiated. This connection had

33

STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014