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MDG : small farmers and amazon deforestation in Brazil
Cattle paths on a field after the clearing and burning of an area of Amazonian rainforest in Pará state, in Brazil. Photograph: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace
Cattle paths on a field after the clearing and burning of an area of Amazonian rainforest in Pará state, in Brazil. Photograph: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace

Brazil must target smallholders to curb rising deforestation

This article is more than 9 years old
While the largest landowners have cut their contribution to deforestation by two-thirds, that of smallholders has increased

Farmers with smallholdings are not responsible for most of the destruction of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, but their contribution to deforestation is rising and must be addressed if the country is to hold on to recent gains, according to an environmental research group.

Government efforts led to a 77% fall in deforestation in the Amazon between 2004 and 2011, but progress has slowed and deforestation is rising, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) said in a report.

The report said that between 2004 and 2011, landowners with more than 500 hectares (1,235 acres) of property were responsible for about 48% of the deforestation. Areas owned by smallholders accounted for 12% of the forests destroyed during the same period.

However, since 2005, the contribution to annual deforestation by the largest landowners has fallen by 63%, while that of smallholders has increased by 69%, the report said.

“Despite the gains made to stem deforestation from 2004 onwards … the outlook today is not all positive,” said Javier Godar, a research fellow at SEI and lead author of the study.

In 2013, deforestation increased by 28% compared with the previous year.

Godar said part of the reason for the rise was that many conservation areas had been scaled down or had their protection status changed, and flagship public-private initiatives, such as a moratorium on trading soya beans from newly deforested areas in the Amazon, were about to end.

A boom in infrastructure projects in the Amazon since 2009, including the building of new roads and dams, may also be contributing to Brazil’s rising deforestation rates, Godar said.

Forest cut down for timber and turned into pasture for livestock grazing, along with soya and palm oil production, are putting pressure on the Amazon as Brazil seeks to maintain its position as the world’s second-largest producer of soya beans and a leading exporter of food.

“Deforestation is spreading to more remote and unpopulated areas of the Amazon, where there is a weaker government presence, which shows that the agricultural frontier is still expanding and new areas are being opened up,” said Godar.

“Further reductions in deforestation in the Amazon are challenging, because deforestation is happening in smaller and more remote areas, and is therefore harder to detect and more expensive to control,” he said.

Different treatment required

Policies to end deforestation are essential for the curbing of climate change, according to experts. But if Brazil is to cut deforestation beyond current rates, new initiatives that target small farmers are needed, the study said.

It recommended schemes that would provide credit to Brazil’s 6 million small landowners living in rural areas in the Amazon and promote more efficient farming techniques among small farmers and large landowners.

“Targeting smallholders with the same punitive measures used for large landowners, when they have far fewer resources, would be too costly and arguably not socially or politically acceptable,” Godar said.

“They have deforested far less than the large landowners to date … [They] hold more forested areas and their forests are, on average, in better condition, so it’s important to help them to preserve those forests, rather than point the finger at them.”

The UN-backed scheme Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), which provides financial incentives to developing countries to protect their forests, is hailed as a key initiative in the battle against the destruction of rainforests worldwide.

But it has so far been “an experimental pilot project”, Godar said, adding: “At current funding levels, the benefits of REDD+ are only likely to reach thousands of farmers, a tiny percentage of the total rural population who live in the Brazilian Amazon.”

Godar said he did not expect environmental issues to be a priority in Brazil before the presidential election runoff between Dilma Rousseff, the incumbent, and rival Aécio Neves on 26 October.

“The main issue in the coming election, regardless of the party that will win it, is Brazil’s economy, which has been in stagnation since 2011,” Godar said.

“Both individuals and the private sector are in debt … and so environmental issues aren’t at the forefront of the candidates’ or most voters’ concerns.”

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