Deforestation Policies Research Articles

Deforestation policies in the Brazilian Legal Amazon: an analysis of the PPCDAm using the triple difference method

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the effects of the synergy between monitoring technologies and deforestation control policies promoted by the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm) during its initial stage.Design/methodology/approachThe triple difference method is employed to explore the differences between the non-metropolitan municipalities with Indigenous lands and other regional municipalities.FindingsThe findings indicate a reduction of approximately 16.1 km² per municipality between 2004 and 2007. This reduction corresponds to a decrease of 10,293 km² in the area of deforestation and a total of 498 million tons of CO2. To ensure the robustness of the results, placebo tests, event study and flexibility in the composition of the groups were conducted. The robustness tests substantiate the findings.Practical implicationsThese results emphasize the significance of remote monitoring policies for controlling deforestation in isolated regions and Indigenous lands. Additionally, such results indicate that the policy was cost-effective.Originality/valueThis study innovates by examining the causal impact of the initial phase of the PPCDAm before 2008, a period not focused on existing literature. Further, employing the triple difference method innovates methodologically to assess PPCDAm's effect on deforestation in isolated Amazon areas.

‘I am really scared for the future’: climate distress among Brazilian youth

Distress about climate change is a growing global phenomenon associated with mental health problems. We sought to understand climate change distress among youth in Brazil, a country that plays a critical role in climate change. After identifying individuals experiencing at least mild functional impairment due to climate anxiety based on a cross-culturally validated scale, we conducted 4 focus groups and 20 in-depth interviews with youth ages 10–16 (total N = 65). Data analysis used deductive and inductive thematic coding done in Atlas-ti. Climate change-related distress was common, including sadness, despair, and anxiety, and was associated with concerns about the local physical environment. Education about climate change in school was lacking, leading to misinformation and uncertainty. Global warming concerns and lack of deforestation policies were stressors, and the media was the most common information source about climate change. Participants expressed concern about Indigenous peoples and demonstrated anxiety about future unknowns, but also showed hope. Results suggest that education about climate change in schools and training for youth facing climate distress are important ways forward.

Temporal Characteristics and Sources of PM2.5 in Porto Velho of Amazon Region in Brazil from 2020 to 2022

Our study analyzed PM2.5 concentrations in Porto Velho, Rondônia, during the April 2020 and October 2022 wildfire seasons. This study aimed to evaluate the temporal characteristics of PM2.5 and the influence of long-distance pollution sources. Using PurpleAir data, we found that the average PM2.5 concentration was 17.7 ± 24.0 µg m−3, with significant spikes in August. PM2.5 concentrations decreased during the day but rose from nighttime to morning. The PM2.5 concentration was observed to be distributed at a high level of 36.3 ± 31.1 µg m−3 in slow westerly winds. Moreover, even in the dominant northerly wind conditions, a similarly high concentration of PM2.5 was detected, measuring at 33.2 ± 28.3 µg m−3. Air masses mainly originated from northeastern, southeastern, and southern regions, passing through Paraguay and Bolivia. Furthermore, PM2.5 in Porto Velho was influenced by Brazil’s northern and Central-West areas. To meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 11.6.2 for clean air, it is recommended that wildfires in Porto Velho’s northern and western regions be reduced, and more robust deforestation policies are needed in areas with long-distance pollution sources.

Deliberate disproportionate policy outcomes and regulating deforestation in Queensland, Australia

AbstractThis paper analyses the strategic interests that inform deforestation policies in Australia, and the variance in policy selections over time. A theory of deliberate policy disproportionality is used to analyse 20 years of regulatory reform in Queensland, focusing on the Vegetation Management Act (VMA) 1999. Application of the framework to this case suggests that political executives were prone to deliberately adopt (dis)proportionate policies as a strategic response to either manage or capitalise on stakeholder support or opposition to any proposed legislative change. The high variance in (dis)proportionate deforestation policies is attributed to how political executives respond to claims made by competing constituencies regarding the costs versus benefits of successive reforms. During key reform phases, policy under‐reaction was the norm, and political executives intentionally limited the scope and effectiveness of the VMA 1999 due to perceived impacts on the agricultural sector. Political executives were highly responsive to the emotional investment of rural constituents and averse to introducing policies that required difficult trade‐offs. Elections offered strategic opportunities for delivering more proportionate policies that balanced public environmental benefits with economic impacts, as evidenced by a conditional deforestation ban introduced between 2004 and 2012 and reinstated in 2018.Points for practitioners Variance in Queensland's deforestation policy over time can be attributed to the intentional decisions by political executives to limit or expand the scope of regulations as a strategic response to stakeholder expectations. Political executives were responsive to the costs versus environmental impacts/benefits of any deforestation reforms, but prone to policy under‐reaction when the priority was managing the emotive reactions from rural constituencies. More proportionate regulations, such as the partial deforestation ban of 2004, aimed to balance environmental benefits with compensation for landholders but were only implemented when electorally beneficial. Stakeholders have a significant influence on disproportionate deforestation policy design and governments will need to manage competing claims to deliver more durable policy outcomes.

Hidden costs of Europe’s deforestation policy

Hidden costs of Europe’s deforestation policy

Implementation of REDD+ Policies in Indonesia to Reducing Deforestation Amid Rising Earth’s Temperature

The existence of forests that function as a temperature cooler and a CO2 absorber on earth is seriously threatened due to deforestation that is not decreasing in number but increasing. Many factors cause deforestation, ranging from industrial and new land clearing for plantations. Even without realizing it, massive deforestation is very influential on the global temperature increase, which threatens the safety of residents and other living things on earth. In Indonesia, there is a REDD+ policy prepared by the Ministry of the Environment, which is a step to reduce the effects of greenhouse gases due to deforestation. This study aims to analyze in depth the implementation of REDD+ policies in Indonesia and examine how these policies develop against the reality of forest conditions in Indonesia today. This research is a descriptive study using the literature study method, where data collection regarding current REDD+ and deforestation policies in Indonesia is then carried out by searching for data and information through documents, photos, pictures, written, and unwritten documents that can support writing. This study finds that the implementation of REDD+ policies has a significant impact on reducing deforestation and forest sustainability in Indonesia.

THE ROLE OF LOCAL WISDOM IN SUPPORTING POLICIES DEFORESTATION SUPERVISION IN LANGKAT REGENCY, NORTH SUMATRA

The purpose of this study was to find out how the role of local wisdom in supporting deforestation monitoring policies in Langkat Regency, North Sumatra. This research method is qualitative with purposive sampling and the informants are the Technical Implementation Unit of the Forest Management Unit (KPH) Region I Stabat and the people who live and live around the forest in Langkat Regency. Data collection techniques are interviews, observation, and documentation. The data was processed and analyzed as a whole and systematically. The results of this study indicate that the implementation of the the Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 18 Tahun 2013 concerning Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction in the implementation of monitoring of deforestation in the Forestry Service of KPH Region I Stabat is still not in accordance with community expectations such as legal certainty, sustainable forest existence, management and utilization of forest products, capacity and coordination of law enforcement officers. The role of local wisdom in supporting deforestation policies in Langkat Regency is that the forest management carried out by the government has not fully accommodated the community based forest management pattern. Forestry policy is still oriented towards state-dominated forest management system. The state-based forest management pattern relies on the government as the main actor in forest management, which is then supported by large capital owners, while the position of the community (customary community) is in a determining position. Legally political; this policy is inseparable from the need for natural resources, especially in the forestry sector.

CHANGES IN SOIL CHEMICAL ATTRIBUTES AND NUTRITION OF Anadenanthera colubrina AND Eucalyptus CLONE UNDER NATURAL FERTILIZERS AND BIOCHAR

This study aimed to evaluate changes in soil chemical attributes and nutrition of Anadenanthera colubrina and a Eucalyptus clone under fertilization using reservoir sediment (RS), fish farming sediment (FFS) and biochar (BC) in the semi-arid region of Brazil. The Eucalyptus clone and A. colubrina leaves and soil were sampled after applying treatments. Leaves were collected for nutritional analysis and soil for mineral and fertility analyses. The K + and P concentration in the soil were influenced by the natural fertilizers, and the biochar increased the C content. The A. colubrina planting reduced the soil K + and P levels, and the Eucalyptus clone cultivation reduced the Mg 2+ content. The FFS was responsible for increasing P availability in both A. colubrina and the Eucalyptus clone, being a good option for use in soils which are naturally poor in P. A. colubrina presented the highest N, P, K and Ca levels, suggesting high demand of this species for these nutrients. The Eucalyptus clone was more demanding for Mg, suggesting that its cultivation should be done in soils rich in Mg 2+ . The use of RS and FFS is important to increase the growth of forest species in semi-arid regions, and this management is recommended in the deforestation policies of these regions.

Spatial model of deforestation using Geographic Information System (GIS) and logistic regression in Besitang forest

The existence of Besitang forests is under threat of deforestation so that its area continues to decline. Besitang forest is part of the Gunung Leuser National Park. Efforts to prevent deforestation need to be carried out with a proper deforestation policy. As a first step, it is crucial to identify the drivers of deforestation. This study aims to obtain information on the drivers of deforestation in Besitang forests from 2000 to 2016. The method used is to do spatial modeling using GIS and binary logistic regression. The results of the research show that elevation factors, distance from settlements, and distance from oil palm plantations are factors that trigger deforestation that occurs in Besitang forests.

Deforestation reduces rainfall and agricultural revenues in the Brazilian Amazon

It has been suggested that rainfall in the Amazon decreases if forest loss exceeds some threshold, but the specific value of this threshold remains uncertain. Here, we investigate the relationship between historical deforestation and rainfall at different geographical scales across the Southern Brazilian Amazon (SBA). We also assess impacts of deforestation policy scenarios on the region’s agriculture. Forest loss of up to 55–60% within 28 km grid cells enhances rainfall, but further deforestation reduces rainfall precipitously. This threshold is lower at larger scales (45–50% at 56 km and 25–30% at 112 km grid cells), while rainfall decreases linearly within 224 km grid cells. Widespread deforestation results in a hydrological and economic negative-sum game, because lower rainfall and agricultural productivity at larger scales outdo local gains. Under a weak governance scenario, SBA may lose 56% of its forests by 2050. Reducing deforestation prevents agricultural losses in SBA up to US$ 1 billion annually.

Cattle ranchers and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: Production, location, and policies

Deforestation for cattle production persists in the Brazilian Amazon despite ongoing efforts by the public and private sectors to combat it. The complexity of the cattle supply chain, which we describe in depth here, creates challenges for the landmark Zero-Deforestation Cattle Agreements in particular and for enforcement of deforestation policies in general. Here, we present a holistic analysis that is increasingly relevant as the number of policies, initiatives, and markets affecting the region increases. We provide the first property-level analysis of which ranchers decided to deforest in the last decade and identify the characteristics that are most related to deforestation. We rely on newly available animal transit and property boundary data to examine 113,000 properties in the three major cattle-producing states in the Brazilian Amazon. We consider characteristics related to a property’s role in the supply chain, location, land characteristics, and the policy environment. We find that deforestation is most likely to occur on properties that sell fewer cattle and earlier in the supply chain, are located in remote locations, and have a high percent of remaining forest. Our results can be used to improve enforcement of existing policies by targeting resources to properties and location where deforestation is more likely.

The impact of near-real-time deforestation alerts across the tropics

Reducing deforestation to mitigate climate change necessitates monitoring of deforestation activity. However, while freely available deforestation alerts on forest loss are available, the effect of these alerts and the presence of subscribers in a particular area is unclear. Here, we show that subscriptions to alerts in 22 tropical countries decrease the probability of deforestation in Africa by 18% relative to the average 2011–2016 levels. There is no effect on other continents, and the availability of alerts does not significantly change deforestation outcomes. This decrease in Africa is higher in protected areas and concessions, suggesting that alerts either increased capacity to enforce existing deforestation policy or induced the development of more effective anti-deforestation policies. Calculated using the social cost of carbon for avoided deforestation in Africa, we estimate the alert system’s value to be between US$149 million and US$696 million. Avoided deforestation is an important part of many climate mitigation strategies, yet monitoring is needed for enforcement. Subscriptions to deforestation alerts lowered the probability of deforestation in Africa by 18%, generating a value of US$149–696 million based on the social cost of carbon.

Production-based pollution versus deforestation: optimal policy with state-independent and-dependent environmental absorption efficiency restoration process

An important yet largely unexamined issue is how the interaction between deforestation and pollution affects economic and environmental sustainability. This article seeks to bridge the gap by introducing a dynamic model of pollution accumulation where polluting emissions can be mitigated and the absorption efficiency of pollution sinks can be restored. We assume that emissions are due to a production activity, and we include deforestation both as an additional source of emissions and as a cause of the exhaustion of environmental absorption efficiency. To account for the fact that the switching of natural sinks to a pollution source can be either possible, and in such a case even reversible, or impossible, we consider that restoration efforts can be either independent from or dependent on environmental absorption efficiency, i.e., state-independent versus state-dependent restoration efforts. We determine (i) whether production or deforestation is the most detrimental from environmental and social welfare perspectives, and (ii) how state-dependent restoration process affects pollution accumulation and deforestation policies and the related environmental and social welfare consequences.

Reducing Commodity-Driven Tropical Deforestation: Political Feasibility and ‘Theories of Change’ for EU Policy Options

Consumer countries play an important role in driving tropical deforestation through imports of forest risk commodities (FRCs), but their role in reducing deforestation has received limited scholarly attention. Drawing on suggestions from grey literature and a European Commission (EC) public consultation, we identify 1,141 policy proposals for the EU and other consumer countries to address tropical deforestation, which we summarize into 86 unique policy options. Two-third of these are informational and supportive policies, while regulatory and especially market-based options are less-often proposed. We assess the political feasibility and map the ‘theory of change’ (TOC) through which the policies address tropical deforestation. Several feasible options exist, though most of these rely on less coercive — informational and cooperative — policy instruments. Most policy proposals lack an explicit and proven TOC, reducing their potential impact on reducing deforestation. Due diligence and multi-stakeholder fora stand out as policies that are feasible, yet rest on convincing TOCs. To increase the feasibility and impact of consumer-country deforestation policy options, we propose three principles: i) Build policies on a clear theory of change, ii) apply policy packaging and sequencing, and iii) work with stakeholders in key supply-chains and regions, broadening scope over time.

Examining the relationship between migration and forest cover change in Mexico from 2001 to 2010

This project examines the relationship between migration, population, and economic processes, and forest cover change in Mexico from 2001 to 2010. Using multiple regression analyses with remotely-sensed, significant (p < 0.10) change in woody vegetation from 2001 to 2010 as our dependent variable, we explore how environmental, migration, demographic, and economic indicators at the national and sub-national biome scales are associated with forest cover change. Results highlight the importance of international migration in forest cover change, demonstrating that international (and internal) migration processes should also be included in LU/CC research and deforestation policy.

Poverty reduction saves forests sustainably: Lessons for deforestation policies

Efforts to reduce deforestation are increasing worldwide through the implementation of climate change mitigation schemes and have recently been promoted as one of the goals of the United Nations’ 2015–2030 Sustainable Development Goals. However, existing strategies are associated with high costs, low effectiveness, and potential adverse economic impact on tropical countries and local people. Moreover, because the underlying causes of deforestation are not clearly understood, the policy options that would be most effective in halting deforestation are not known. Therefore, in this study, I examine the main factors influencing forest area change by synthesizing the results of a multinational data analysis, a Malaysian socio-economic survey, and Indonesian household surveys on deforestation that were conducted between 1990 and 2014. I reveal that poverty has a strong impact on forest area change and that high agricultural rent accelerates deforestation. I then use logical equations based on my own findings and those of previous studies to represent the relationships between deforestation, poverty, agricultural rent, and forest scarcity. From these equations, I derive clear and reasonable explanations for the causes of deforestation and assess the effectiveness of various policies and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation strategies to halt deforestation. I suggest that poverty-reduction strategies can represent sound and effective methods for reducing tropical deforestation. These findings will facilitate development of sustainable strategies that will both reduce deforestation over long term and reconcile forest conservation with social welfare.

The Norway–Colombia Agreement to Protect Rainforest and Reduce Global Warming: Success or Failure?

The Norwegian government has made an agreement with Juan Manuel Santos, former Colombian president, to give Colombia US$48 million yearly to reduce deforestation. This forms part of a greater effort by Norway to aid countries in the South to halt climate change, through the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative, instituted after the Paris Agreement in 2015. The ways efforts to reduce deforestation have been implemented have been criticised. While Norway, through this investment, appears to be a climate-concerned country, it continues with oil extraction activities. Thus, Norway exhibits double standards and shifts the problem of climate change to the countries in the South. This article examines the successes and failures of the Norwegian rainforest protection efforts in the case of Colombia, assessing the governance of the deforestation policies from the perspective of green Southern criminology and incorporating a critique of the neo-colonialist means of environmental protection established by the North.

Amazonian tree species threatened by deforestation and climate change

Deforestation is currently the major threat to Amazonian tree species but climate change may surpass it in just a few decades. Here, we show that climate and deforestation combined could cause a decline of up to 58% in Amazon tree species richness, whilst deforestation alone may cause 19–36% and climate change 31–37% by 2050. Quantification is achieved by overlaying species distribution models for current and future climate change scenarios with historical and projected deforestation. Species may lose an average of 65% of their original environmentally suitable area, and a total of 53% may be threatened according to IUCN Red List criteria; however, Amazonian protected area networks reduce these impacts. The worst-case combined scenario—assuming no substantial climate or deforestation policy progress—suggests that by 2050 the Amazonian lowland rainforest may be cut into two blocks: one continuous block with 53% of the original area and another severely fragmented block. This outlook urges rapid progress to zero deforestation, which would help to mitigate climate change and foster biodiversity conservation.

The Appraisal of the National Deforestation Policy in Nigeria

This paper empirically examine the effects of national deforestation policy on the protection of Nigerian ecosystem. It examine the government policy to reduce or totally eradicate the growing effects of forests depletion on humanity, animals and the economy. Apart from largely dependent on secondary means of data collection, It will examine the objectives, the formulation, implementation together with the evaluation of the national deforestation policy in Nigeria. The paper conclude that the national deforestation policy has not achieved substantial success in curbing or eradicating the growing deforestation in Nigeria. Consequently, some necessary policy recommendations are made to improve the national deforestation policy in Nigeria.

The EU’s REDD+ Policy Developments and the Lessons from the Policy Implementation in West Papua and Papua, Indonesia

Despite its short history of development, the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) policy has started to establish itself as an effective policy for securing carbon offsets for large emitters of greenhouse gases including the European Union (EU). Corresponding to the direction of the international climate change policy area, this article primarily presents the current state of the EU REDD+ policy implementation. It offers considerations and suggestions to overcome the challenges facing an ongoing EU REDD+ project in West Papua and Papua in Indonesia to better direct the policy. First, to provide a primary overview of EU REDD+ policy developments, the article analyses the policy developments at the EU level, including its legal basis, as well as the roles of the EU’s REDD+ policy as it relates to institutions. Second, this article presents the background of the ongoing project in West Papua and Papua, Indonesia, and identifies and analyses the main challenges facing the implementation of the ongoing project. Third, the article discusses the author’s own view regarding these challenges. Finally, in the conclusion, it discusses the prospects and limitations of the EU’s REDD+ policy.