Slowing Amazon deforestation through public policy and interventions in beef and soy supply chains
Abstract
The recent 70% decline in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon suggests that it is possible to manage the advance of a vast agricultural frontier. Enforcement of laws, interventions in soy and beef supply chains, restrictions on access to credit, and expansion of protected areas appear to have contributed to this decline, as did a decline in the demand for new deforestation. The supply chain interventions that fed into this deceleration are precariously dependent on corporate risk management, and public policies have relied excessively on punitive measures. Systems for delivering positive incentives for farmers to forgo deforestation have been designed but not fully implemented. Territorial approaches to deforestation have been effective and could consolidate progress in slowing deforestation while providing a framework for addressing other important dimensions of sustainable development.
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Proximity to roads, rivers, and mines and elevation and rainfall are significant predictors of deforestation.
“Existing literature has found that proximity to roads, rivers, and mines and elevation and rainfall are significant predictors of deforestation”
From Collective property rights reduce deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (2020) · cites this paper as [37]
In the Brazilian Amazon, agricultural exports have increased since 2005, yet rural income, education, and health remain well below the national average.
“This challenge is especially pronounced in the Brazilian Amazon, where agricultural exports have increased since 2005, yet rural income, education, and health remain well below the national average (Nepstad et al. 2014, Valentim andGarrett 2016).”
From Explaining the persistence of low income and environmentally degrading land uses in the Brazilian Amazon (2017) · cites this paper as Nepstad et al. 2014
The last decade has been marked by a dramatic decrease in deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon.
“Yet, the last decade has been marked by a dramatic decrease in deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon (Nepstad et al., 2014 andArima et al., 2014)”
From Transition in environmental governance in the Brazilian Amazon: emergence of a new pattern of socio-economic development and deforestation (2016) · cites this paper as Nepstad et al., 2014
Rapid economic growth in Brazil since the 1990s made it possible to fund ambitious programs for secure property rights, property registration, remote sensing deforestation monitoring, credit restrictions, and expansion of protected areas.
“The rapid economic growth in Brazil since the 1990s made it possible to bank ambitious programs to ensure secure property rights and private property registration, to implement an efficient remote sensing-based deforestation monitoring system, to establish restrictions on access to credit and to support the expansion of a network of protected areas (Nepstad et al., 2014).”
From Transition in environmental governance in the Brazilian Amazon: emergence of a new pattern of socio-economic development and deforestation (2016) · cites this paper as Nepstad et al., 2014
The efforts led by the Brazilian authorities to control deforestation have mainly been based on command-and-control punitive measures.
“To date, the efforts led by the Brazilian authorities to control deforestation have mainly been based on command-and-control punitive measures (Nepstad et al., 2014).”
From Transition in environmental governance in the Brazilian Amazon: emergence of a new pattern of socio-economic development and deforestation (2016) · cites this paper as Nepstad et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Nepstad, D., McGrath, D., Stickler, C., Alencar, A., Azevedo, A., Swette, B., Bezerra, T., DiGiano, M., Shimada, J., Seroa da Motta, R., Armijo, E., Castello, L., Brando, P., Hansen, M. C., McGrath-Horn, M., Carvalho, O., & Hess, L.
- Affiliations
- Earth Innovation Institute, 3180 18th Street, Suite 205, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA.
- Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (BR)
- Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (BR)
- Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, SHIN CA 5, Bloco J2, Sala 309, Bairro, Lago Norte, Brasília-DF 71503-505.
- Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
- Virginia Tech (US)
- Carnegie Institution for Science (US)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Corresponding author
- Nepstad, Daniel
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2014-06-06
- Volume
- 344
- Issue
- 6188
- Pages
- 1118-1123
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2039294942
- Cited by
- 1,202
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 76 · 2025: 74 · 2024: 81 · 2023: 95 · 2022: 92 · 2021: 111 · 2020: 145 · 2019: 98 · 2018: 119 · 2017: 113 · 2016: 91 · 2015: 86 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 10.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Oil Palm Production and Sustainability
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development
- Keywords
- Amazon deforestation, deforestation decline, beef supply chain, soy supply chain, public policy, protected areas, law enforcement, territorial approach, corporate risk management, agricultural frontier, sustainable development
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brazil, Cattle, Conservation of Natural Resources, Humans, Meat, Public Policy, Glycine max
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