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Brazil: Forests in the Balance
holders to file a declaratory statement with federal authorities. The declaration
includes a statement of the area of the forest reserve, which is
exempt from property tax.
The government attempted to expand its Forestry Code in 1977 with
the Pandolfo Proposal by the Superintendency for the Development of
the Amazon (SUDAM, Superintendencia do Desenvolvimento da
Amazonia). This was the government’s first attempt to develop a forest
policy for the Amazon based on the idea that the region’s poor soils
were better suited to timber production than agriculture. This initiative
resulted in the eventual creation of a 500,000 km 2 network of national
forests in the Amazon for managed timber concessions. Despite the availability
of SUDAM-backed fiscal incentives, investor interest was low. 15
Nascimento (1985, cited in Schneider 1992) suggests that this was due
to the relative attractiveness of fiscal incentive programs for cattle ranching
as an alternative investment. Schneider also points out that it was
unlikely that investors in this program could compete under managed
conditions with those extracting timber without management constraints.
Following more than two decades of development in the Amazon, in
1988 the government launched Nossa Natureza (“Our Nature”), an
environmental policy initiative aimed at fortifying forest protection efforts.
Finally addressing environmental concerns of government policies,
this program, among other things, suspended fiscal incentives for
agro-ranching activities in forested parts of Amazonia and intensified
government efforts to monitor and control burning (Redwood 1992).
Then, in 1996, the government instituted an ecological package of
legislation (GTA 1998). This initiative consisted of Provisional Measure
(MP) 1511 and Decree 1963, both of which directly affect the
logging of natural forests. MP1511 modified the original Forestry Code
and required that 80 percent of forested area on private lands must
now remain under forest cover, as opposed to 50 percent of total land.
However, in states with approved zoning plans, smallholders are exempt
from this requirement. Decree 1963, on the other hand, in recognizing
the seriousness of illegal harvesting of mahogany, called for a
two-year moratorium on new forest management plans for exploitation
of mahogany and virola. Under the decree, IBAMA also was to investigate
existing concessions and anticipated canceling 70 percent of them.
The decree also established priorities for the use of financial incentives
and required IBAMA to submit proposals for new national forests (GTA
1998).
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