Open AccessUnmasking the impunity of illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon: a call for enforcement and accountability
Author(s) -
Marcondes Geraldo Coelho,
Ana Paula Valdiones,
Julia Z. Shimbo,
Vinícius de Freitas Silgueiro,
Marcos Reis Rosa,
Carolina Marques,
Magaly Oliveira,
Suely Mara Vaz Guimarães de Araújo,
Tasso Azevedo
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
environmental research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.37
H-Index - 124
ISSN - 1748-9326
DOI - 10.1088/1748-9326/ac5193
Subject(s) - amazon rainforest , deforestation (computer science) , enforcement , accountability , business , law enforcement , government (linguistics) , agency (philosophy) , political science , law , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , epistemology , computer science , biology , programming language
Amazon deforestation has been growing since 2012 and more recently under record rates. In fact, a new wave of rainforest destruction is on, challenging environmental agencies and policymakers. Political negligence has boosted deforestation in the Amazon, when coupled with deforestation drives that we already know about, as well as exempting environmental offenders and clearing the way to major infrastructure projects, in addition to weakening environmental agencies and command and control policies. In this letter, we share perspectives on the dynamics of deforestation alerts in the Brazilian Amazon and the action of public enforcement agencies, to draw attention to the urgency of supporting these entities for resuming the fight against deforestation. Our results reveal the few enforcement actions on deforestation alerts (1.3%) by the major environmental agency from the federal government. When compared with state government agencies, our in-depth case study showed a higher number of enforcement actions, promoting accountability for illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. It is evident that budget cuts for federal environmental agencies and changes in enforcement procedures have jeopardized actions to combat illegal deforestation. Our analysis calls for federal agencies to resume their powers, and for state agencies to recognize their role in environmental reinforcement and assigning liability. In the end, we list five key factors for reestablishing enforcement actions by public agencies for fighting deforestation and improving dissuasive effects.