Decree unifying the state and federal records will allow the environmental status of more than 4.8 million properties to be assessed

On Thursday (September 18), the Brazilian federal government began the process of enacting the law amending the Brazilian forestry code, sanctioned with vetoes by President Dilma Rousseff. The decree, unifying Brazilian state and federal environmental records in a national database, will allow the environmental status of over 4.8 million properties, belonging to small producers and family farmers across the country, to be assessed. “We're turning a page and changing the focus of the debate, closing a cycle,” said Izabella Teixeira, Brazilian Minister of Environment. “Now, the task is to make the new code a reality.”

The challenge now is to implement, in conjunction with states and municipalities, the Rural Environmental Registry (in Portuguese, Cadastro Ambiental Rural, or CAR). The area to be registered is 329 million hectares in size, covering 80 million family farming establishments. After registration, owners can join the Environmental Registration Program, thereby starting the process to recover permanent preservation areas that were degraded after 2008 and restore forest reserves on properties where these have been wholly or partially suppressed.

Database - The CAR consolidation process began two years ago with the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) and individual states working through the Rural Registration System on the Internet. So far, agreements have been reached with 14 states to perform registration and migration of databases to the national database. The state of Rio de Janeiro has already signed the cooperation pact. The states of Mato Grosso, Pará, Amazonas, Rondônia and Bahia already have systems in place and have registered a total of 160,000 properties. The states of Acre, Mato Grosso, Tocantins and Espírito Santo are currently in the implementation phase, with an initial forecast of registering another 400,000 properties. The new decree is expected to accelerate registration.

Through analyzing georeferenced information of the property, with delineation of the Permanent Protection Areas (PPA), Legal Reserves and remnants of native vegetation, the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) traces a digital map of the property from which the values of the area are calculated for environmental assessment.

Family farmers, agrarian reform settlers, rural family entrepreneurs and traditional peoples and communities are the specific beneficiaries of the program. They will receive support from the government to recover the degraded Permanent Protection Areas and Legal Reserves on their rural properties. The facilities provided to this group include the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and Legal Reserve Registration, free of charge. In addition, they receive rural technical assistance, environmental education, seedlings and seeds and training.

23 October 2012