GEO Brasil - UNEP

the state of forests
the state of environment in Brazil
populating the area for thirty years, that is, in the period extending approximately
from 1955 to 1985
At the national level, the mean deforested area per year in the 1990-2000 period
was of 23 million hectares (Table 3), taking into consideration native and planted
forests combined
Increased deforestation had several impacts, among which the following can be
emphasised:
Table 3- Change in forest area in B razil: 1990-2000
T ype A rea 1990
(ha)
A rea 2000
(ha)
Annual Change
(ha)
% of annual
Change
Natural 560,798,000 538,923,000 -2,187,500 -0.39
Planted 6,200,000 4,982,000 -121,800 -1.96
T otal 566,998,000 543,905,000 -2,309,300 -0.41
of the land use, once it makes the
distribution of these categories in
terms of property clear
Up until the end of the 1960s, the main
source of wood supply for the forestbased
sector came from native forests
By the end of that decade, the area of
planted forests corresponded to a little
over 500,000 hectares Nevertheless,
the largest portion of the volume of
wood originated from these forests was
destined to the steel industrial park and
to the generation of energy for
locomotives Except for the South, the
country’s forest industrial park was still
very shy
Source: FAO - 2000
In 1965, the new Forest Code was
reduction in the forest potential capable of contributing towards the regional
socio-economic development;
reduction of biodiversity;
increased carbon dioxide emissions;
soil degradation; and
loss of water quality
Another impact directly derived from deforestation is the increased number of
forest fires From June to December 1998, 107,007 fire spots were registered in
the Amazon; during the same period of 1999, there were 107,242 forest fires
registered; in 2000, also from June to December, 104,122 fire spots were registered
And in 2001, there were 145,708 forest fires registered in the region (IBAMA-
PROARCO, 2002)
The Brazilian Forest Code classifies the forests in three categories regarding their
use:
Permanent Preservation Forests;
Restricted Use Forests; and
Unrestricted Use Forests
In the first case, the areas are untouchable as for the direct use of any of their
resources - except when permitted by the Public Power due to social interest In
the second case, the use of forest resources is subject to restrictions specified in
the federal legislation - for each region, and by state and municipal legislations -
for each region, locality or species And in the third case, the land owner has free
use of the forest, although tree-felling depends on IBAMA´S Authorisation
By defining these three forest categories, the law establishes preliminary zoning
promulgated; in 1966, tax incentives for
reforesting were established; and in
1967, the Brazilian Institute for Forestry
Development (IBDF – Instituto
Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento
Florestal) was created These three
events marked the definition of a new
Brazilian forest policy, that of largescale
reforesting
Following the encouragement to
reforesting programme, the Federal
Government launched two other
programmes in the 70s which would
consolidate the Brazilian forest sector:
the National Paper and Cellulose
Programme and the National
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