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Cited by 51Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource ManagementLaw, Economics, and Judicial SystemsEnvironmental law and policy

Lessons from the historical dynamics of environmental law enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon

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Nunes, Felipe S. M., Soares-Filho, Britaldo S., Oliveira, Amanda R., Veloso, Laura V. S., Schmitt, Jair, Van der Hoff, Richard, Assis, Debora C., Costa, Rayane P. +5 more·2024·Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/s41598-024-52180-7PMC PMC10800348
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Abstract

Here, we analyze critical changes in environmental law enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon between 2000 and 2020. Based on a dataset of law enforcement indicators, we discuss how these changes explain recent Amazon deforestation dynamics. Our analysis also covers changes in the legal prosecution process and documents a militarization of enforcement between 2018 and 2022. From 2004 to 2018, 43.6 thousand land-use embargoes and 84.3 thousand fines were issued, targeting 3.3 million ha of land, and totaling USD 9.3 billion in penalties. Nevertheless, enforcement relaxed and became spatially more limited, signaling an increasing lack of commitment by the State to enforcing the law. The number of embargoes and asset confiscations dropped by 59% and 55% in 2019 and 2020, respectively. These changes were accompanied by a marked increase in enforcement expenditure, suggesting a massive efficiency loss. More importantly, the creation of so-called conciliation hearings and the centralization of legal processes in 2019 reduced the number of actual judgments and fines collected by 85% and decreased the ratio between lawsuits resulting in paid fines over filed ones from 17 to 5%. As Brazil gears up to crack-down on illegal deforestation once again, our assessment suggests urgent entry points for policy action.

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  • Law enforcement in the Amazon is far from adequate, partly due to limited capacity to monitor such a vast expanse, but also due to lenient state institutions.

    “Second, law enforcement is far from adequate, partly due to limited capacity to monitor such a vast expanse, but also due to lenient state institutions (Nunes et al., 2024).”

    From Beyond the “supply chain” framing: Cattle ranching as a vanishing mediator of deforestation and dispossession in the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon (2026) · cites this paper as Nunes et al., 2024

    The Introduction says enforcement in the Amazon is often insufficient, and Results and discussion (‘Changes in institutional capacity and militarization,’ page unavailable) reports low state-agency capacity and limited accountability. The legal-prosecution section also describes institutional changes that increased the probability of impunity. But the paper does not attribute inadequate enforcement to an inability to monitor the Amazon’s vast area; its Introduction instead describes institutional capacity for effective deforestation monitoring. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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Authors
Nunes, F. S. M., Soares-Filho, B. S., Oliveira, A. R., Veloso, L. V. S., Schmitt, J., Van der Hoff, R., Assis, D. C., Costa, R. P., Börner, J., Ribeiro, S. M. C., Rajão, R. G. L., de Oliveira, U., & Costa, M. A.
Affiliations
  • Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR)
  • Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (BR)
  • University of Bonn (DE)
Corresponding author
Nunes, Felipe S. M.
ORCID
Venue
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2024-01-21
Volume
14
Issue
1
Pages
1828-1828
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41598-024-52180-7
PMC
PMC10800348
OpenAlex
W4391069115
Cited by
51
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 28 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 5
FWCI
8.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
  • Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
  • Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
  • Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems
  • Social Sciences › Law › Environmental law and policy
Keywords
environmental law enforcement, Amazon deforestation, Brazilian Amazon, conciliation procedure, prosecution, illegal deforestation
MeSH terms
Brazil, Health Expenditures, Hearing, Social Control, Formal, Law Enforcement

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