In 2023, almost 90% of deforested areas in Brazil were concentrated in less than 1% of rural properties

Brasil de Fato

A slice of 0.96% of rural properties in Brazil alone accounted for almost 90% of all deforestation in the country in 2023 when a total of 1,829,597 hectares were devastated. Despite indicating an 11.6% drop in deforestation compared to the previous year, the figures evoke an underlying concern among experts about the advance of agribusiness expansion. This activity alone accounted for 97% of all Brazil’s vegetation loss not only last year but also over the last five years.

The statistics were released on Tuesday (28) by MapBiomas, a project that brings together many organizations, technology companies and other players who periodically monitor the country’s vegetation cover.

“Agribusiness is predatory depending on the model on which it is based, the way it is implemented. What happens is that the source of deforestation ends up being more agricultural expansion itself. There are various models in the country, such as direct expansion for planting soya, or for some other crop or pasture. In the Cerrado biome, it’s common to adopt a commodity production model, such as soy, which is currently the biggest driver [of deforestation]. However, in the Caatinga biome, there is, for example, the expansion of wind energy production and solar panels. So, they’re also deforesting to put up solar panels when we already have 50% of the Caatinga anthropized [marked by human intervention],” says MapBiomas’ technical coordinator, Marcos Rosa.

“A possible consensus”

At the local level, MapBiomas found that 3,511 of Brazil’s municipalities recorded at least one deforestation event last year, which means 63% of Brazilian cities. By combining these figures with statistics showing that less than 1% of rural properties account for a significant proportion of deforestation, Marcos Rosa says he believes that a possible consensus can be reached on reconciling interests in favor of the environment.

“That 1% is 70,000 properties that keeps deforesting, regardless of whether the deforestation is legal or illegal – we are talking about any kind of deforestation. Therefore, there are 99% that no longer deforest. We have more than 2,000 municipalities where there was no more deforestation [in 2023]. So, it’s possible to reach a consensus. We need the participation of the agribusiness sector, which still has some backward representatives who think that the environment and development are on opposite sides. We need to bring out the more modern representatives [of the agribusiness sector], who have already understood that these things are complementary.”

“I say this because we already have an agro sector that has realized that preserving the environment is also necessary to increase productivity. You can gain in production with [the use of] technology, for example, and not just by expanding the area. The problem is that the decision to deforest or not is still very individual. So, we need to talk to the agribusiness sector, discuss and plan [the use of areas] because that’s the sector most affected by climate change, such as changes in rainfall, droughts, intense rainfall, etc. It’s a sector that needs to understand that they also need a balanced environment,” says the geographer.

Cerrado

The expert points out that there is a special concern about the Cerrado, a biome where there was an exponential increase of 67% in deforestation in 2023, at the same time as the activity saw a drastic fall of around 60% in the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest.

Rosa argues that the area is experiencing a more “complex” scenario in terms of environmental preservation. MapBiomas advocates investing in raising awareness among rural landowners through a policy that guarantees advantages to the segment in exchange for controlling devastation.

“The Forest Code – the law that protects the Cerrado biome – protects 20% of the native area on each property, so there is still a lot of room for legal deforestation. In the Cerrado, it’s not just about discussing command and control [of the situation]. There’s a whole conversation that needs to be held now to articulate and define that landowners who have legal authorization to deforest have some gain to protect their areas, as well as defining areas for economic and ecological zoning, areas for protection and areas for cattle raising expansion. The Cerrado is much more complex and depends on greater dialog to reduce deforestation.”

For the organization, the experience gained in activities to preserve the Amazon rainforest can help the state and others about controlling deforestation in the Cerrado. He mentions the expertise gained from the action fronts adopted in the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon.

“The last two axes, which are land-use planning, valuing communities and standing forests, are more long-term and can bring a lot of experience to the Cerrado. We have to have this territorial planning, discuss and carry out the economic and ecological zoning of the Cerrado, and discuss with the agro sector areas to preserve any areas for expansion of their activities. So, in the case of the Cerrado, this articulation is necessary to build a collaborative solution, bringing together the financial, private, productive and environmental sectors, finding some solution in this process,” he proposes.

Government

President of the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA, in Portuguese), Rodrigo Agostinho said on Tuesday (28), following the publication of the data, that the statistics “help [the government] take a step forward in public policies on the issue.”

“With the deforestation data, we can commission inspection teams to the most sensitive areas, and prioritize efforts to embargo deforested areas in the priority municipalities. We realized that, last year, when we embargoed almost 700,000 hectares of illegally deforested areas, deforestation moved from one region to another. We have to monitor the data to be more assertive.”

Like the MapBiomas experts, the president called for rural landowners to embrace the perspective that reconciles development and sustainability. “There is no more room for those who do illegal things. I monitor deforestation using satellite images, for example. You don’t even need an inspector on the ground. So, people who deforest illegally will be caught, their activities will be embargoed. They will lose the right to credit, will receive fines and may even be criminally liable. We need to make it very clear to society that it is possible to produce without destroying the environment.”