The Brazilian Forest Code: An Overview of Law 4.771/65 and Bill 30/11

Abstract

When Brazil was still a Portuguese colony, there were already rules to protect the natural resources for the Portuguese Crown. Nevertheless, a proper environmental legislation aiming to preserve nature and the environmental balance is relatively recent in the country. In fact, until a few decades ago, topics like water, vegetation and wildlife were seen by the Brazilian legislation as goods or inputs in the production process. However, this picture has changed since the 1980s and, nowadays, Brazil has an extensive and modern legislation to protect the environment. Actually, Brazil is one of the few countries whose legislation, also known as the Forest Code (Law 4.771 of 1965), requires the maintenance of forests and other vegetation in specific areas, such as Permanent Preservation Areas and Legal Reserve. Currently, a new forest legislation is under discussion in the Brazilian Congress and a few articles of the original proposal were criticized, extending the debate not only to legislators, but also to different sectors of society. This article intends to clarify some of the controversial issues regarding Legal Reserves and Permanent Preservation Areas that shall be preserved, analyzing the forest code in force and the code under discussion. In addition, two other instruments are also described, namely the Rural Environmental Registry, which can support the monitoring work of Brazilian environmental agencies, and the Environmental Reserve Quota, which encourages landowners to preserve the forest.