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Brazilian Government Efforts to Combat Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest

Rapid deforestation in the Amazon has been the focus of much international attention and there have been efforts to combat it made by many entities, such as international companies, governments, and numerous environmental organizations. Government policies do indeed work in combating deforestation in the Amazon, as it was estimated that over half of the avoided deforestation in the Amazon between 2005 and 2009 was directly related to Brazilian conservation policies. Three policy initiatives have been aimed at deforestation prevention: developing strategies for strong management and control; promoting an increase in protected areas; and the creation of credit policies designed to be conditional on compliance with environmental regulations. Conservationists are now focusing on secondary vegetation regeneration as well as primary vegetation regeneration.

Environmental agencies in Brazil at the federal and state government levels have helped to reduce illegal forestry by monitoring forest lands and confiscating wood that was illegally harvested in the Amazon. Since 2000, the Brazilian government has implemented specific policies that have mitigated deforestation due to a wide range of environmental crimes and events. These include forest fires, illegal logging, and illegal clearing of land for cattle ranches. Furthermore, Brazilian forestry legislation has implemented new laws and regulations which have protected areas under the jurisdiction of the federal government, states, and municipalities. Satellite measurements are beginning to be monitored by local law enforcement to observe long term differences in forest abundance, and to more importantly track the area of forest loss. This long-term system is called PRODES, which provides high quality rendering with long intervals. Another system used is called DETER which uses lower quality rendering but records more frequent data on the forest through images. These satellites are operated by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Close monitoring of regeneration sites by law enforcement ensure that abandoned land is left to the hands of nature to regrow. In areas such as Mato Grosso and Pará, coordinated Brazilian government effort was able to reduce deforestation levels by more than 25%. By 2030, Brazil's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which it made as a participant in the Paris Agreement on climate change, aims to reduce emissions from greenhouse gases to levels well below measurements in 2005. Through efforts that include reforesting millions of hectares of CO2 consuming forestland, the goal is to reduce emissions by more than 35% of the high amount measured in the year 2005.