Brazil’s conservation reform and the reduction of deforestation in Amazonia

The Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm), launched in 2004, promoted a drastic conservation reform in Brazil. To date, the plan has been through four distinct phases: PPCDAm-I (2004–2008), II (2009–2011), III (2012–2015), and IV (2016–2020). A substantial decline from historically high deforestation rates in the Amazon occurred from 2004 to 2012, part of which (particularly after 2007) can be attributed to the PPCDAm, and part to economic factors such as commodity prices and the currency exchange rates that affect the profitability of agricultural exports. After 2012 deforestation has trended upward despite control efforts. The PPCDAm evolved through its four phases, consequently changing the patterns of deforestation in Amazonia. Here, we review the conservation instruments and strategies promoted under the PPCDAm umbrella and, when possible, provide estimates of their impacts on deforestation based on rigorous, counterfactual evaluations. While the literature emphasizes some of the most well-known PPCDAm actions, e.g., improved satellite-based monitoring, the “blacklist” of municipalities, expansion of protected areas, land tenure regularization, credit access restrictions, and moratoria, we highlight a number of other PPCDAm activities that, along with the previous examples, are arguably also responsible for a significant share of the reduction of deforestation in the region.