Environmental compliance in the Brazilian Amazon: awareness, motivations, capacity and opportunities

Proposed session: Understanding challenges and opportunities facing a transition to more sustainable land-use systems in the Eastern Amazon Fostering transitions towards more sustainable systems of land-use is one of the most significant scientific and political challenges of the 21st century. The introduction of new laws and development of new regulatory and institutional frameworks can be critical in making such transitions possible. Yet acceptance of any new regulation is often met with significant resistance, with past behaviour and social norms resulting in poor acceptance and internalization by relevant stakeholders, and hence low levels of compliance. Major policy efforts have been made by the Brazilian government in the past ten years to bring about a transition in the Amazon away from a process of land occupation and development that is dependent upon deforestation. In the last decade the federal government has initiated a much stronger program of enforcement to improve compliance, including through new satellite monitoring tools, increased field visits and fines, and restrictions on private landowners to access commodity markets and credit. Together these measures have contributed to a reduction in deforestation of c.80% in the Brazilian Amazon between 2004 and 2013. Here we present a critical appraisal of the extent to which environmental regulations can trigger desirable change and show that there are many barriers which still need to be overcome to foster lasting transitions to more socially and ecologically resilient land management systems. Successful compliance depends not only on carefully designed policy measures but also on the ability and motivations of individual landowners and farmers to change. We address this issue using a unique dataset collected by the Sustainable Amazon Network in two municipalities in the Eastern Amazon, Paragominas and Santarem, each characterised by a distinct history of changes in local environmental governance. By characterising environmental compliance achieved by different types of farmers and the ways in which recent policy changes have affected them, we identify significant heterogeneity in responses and potential barriers associated with compliance levels for different types of Amazonian farmers, from large-scale mechanised soybean plantations to small-scale subsistence farmers. In particular we show that large-scale farmers are generally compliant with minimal legal requirements but often fall short of adherence to all current regulations, whilst small-scale farmers often appear to have been marginalized and isolated from the political and regulatory processes related to recent changes in environmental legislation. In analysing barriers to compliance we distinguish differences in awareness to rules, motivations to follow rules, the capacity to comply with them, and the opportunities and support offered through new and evolving institutions. Although farmers often declare they would be willing to change, awareness of rules or new practices is low and institutions to support effective change are often lacking. Our findings of barriers to environmental compliance facing different Amazonian farmers can help facilitate discussions among stakeholders at different governance levels and identify limitations of existing policy instruments and processes. (Texte integral)

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Coudel, Emilie, Gardner, Toby, Ferreira, Joice Nunes, Piketty, Marie-Gabrielle, Viana, Cecilia Fadigas, Morello, Thiago Fonseca, Parry, Luke, Barlow, Jos
Format:	conference_item biblioteca
Language:	eng
Published:	Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe
Subjects:	P01 - Conservation de la nature et ressources foncières, E50 - Sociologie rurale, E14 - Économie et politique du développement, E11 - Économie et politique foncières, E80 - Économie familiale et artisanale,
Online Access:	http://agritrop.cirad.fr/574940/ http://agritrop.cirad.fr/574940/1/document_574940.pdf
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