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No man’s land in the Brazilian Amazon: Could undesignated public forests slow Amazon deforestation?

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  • Azevedo-Ramos, Claudia
  • Moutinho, Paulo

Abstract

Here we argue that a faster and more cost-effective way to reduce deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon would be the immediate allocation of ca. 70 million hectares of still undesignated public forestlands to conservation and social use. Currently, this massive block of forests is not under effective supervision by a designated public agency, increasing the risk of continued land grabbing and predatory use. These undesignated public lands accounted for 25% of recent deforestation, emitting 200 million tons of CO2. Under the current scenario of deforestation growth in the region, the immediate allocation of undesignated forestlands to conservation or social use by the government will reduce the availability of unsupervised public land, increase forest protection and, therefore, decrease deforestation and carbon emissions. Additionally, the action would send an unmistakable sign to the international community of Brazil's will to increase governance of its large share of the Amazon forest.

Suggested Citation

  • Azevedo-Ramos, Claudia & Moutinho, Paulo, 2018. "No man’s land in the Brazilian Amazon: Could undesignated public forests slow Amazon deforestation?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 125-127.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:73:y:2018:i:c:p:125-127
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.01.005
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    1. Azevedo-Ramos, Claudia & Moutinho, Paulo & Arruda, Vera Laísa da S. & Stabile, Marcelo C.C. & Alencar, Ane & Castro, Isabel & Ribeiro, João Paulo, 2020. "Lawless land in no man’s land: The undesignated public forests in the Brazilian Amazon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    2. Porro, Roberto & Porro, Noemi Sakiara Miyasaka, 2022. "State-led social and environmental policy failure in a Brazilian forest frontier: Sustainable Development Project in Anapu, Pará," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Stabile, Marcelo C.C. & Guimarães, André L. & Silva, Daniel S. & Ribeiro, Vivian & Macedo, Marcia N. & Coe, Michael T. & Pinto, Erika & Moutinho, Paulo & Alencar, Ane, 2020. "Solving Brazil's land use puzzle: Increasing production and slowing Amazon deforestation," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Silveira, Fabricio & Romero, João P. & Queiroz, Arthur & Freitas, Elton & Stein, Alexandre, 2025. "Economic complexity and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    5. Costa, Francisco de Assis, 2025. "Rationale of the land market in the brazilian amazon and supply-demand oriented policies: A model and scenarios applied to Pará," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    6. dos Santos Massoca, Paulo Eduardo & Brondízio, Eduardo Sonnewend, 2022. "National policies encounter municipal realities: A critical analysis of the outcomes of the List of Priority Municipalities in curbing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    7. da Motta Bustamante, Juliana & Stevanov, Mirjana & Krott, Max & Ferreira de Carvalho, Edson, 2018. "Brazilian State Forest Institutions: Implementation of forestry goals evaluated by the 3L Model," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 531-546.
    8. Muradian, Roldan & Cahyafitri, Raras & Ferrando, Tomaso & Grottera, Carolina & Jardim-Wanderley, Luiz & Krause, Torsten & Kurniawan, Nanang I. & Loft, Lasse & Nurshafira, Tadzkia & Prabawati-Suwito, D, 2025. "Will the EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) reduce tropical forest loss? Insights from three producer countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    9. Reydon, Bastiaan Philip & Fernandes, Vitor Bukvar & Telles, Tiago Santos, 2020. "Land governance as a precondition for decreasing deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    10. Reginaldo Carvalho Santos & Carlos Antonio Silva Junior & Leandro Denis Battirola & Mendelson Lima, 2022. "Importance of legislation for maintaining forests on private properties in the Brazilian Cerrado," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 3356-3370, March.
    11. Bastiaan Reydon & Mathilde Molendijk & Nicolas Porras & Gabriel Siqueira, 2021. "The Amazon Forest Preservation by Clarifying Property Rights and Potential Conflicts: How Experiments Using Fit-for-Purpose Can Help," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-16, February.
    12. Sparovek, Gerd & Reydon, Bastiaan Philip & Guedes Pinto, Luís Fernando & Faria, Vinicius & de Freitas, Flavio Luiz Mazzaro & Azevedo-Ramos, Claudia & Gardner, Toby & Hamamura, Caio & Rajão, Raoni & Ce, 2019. "Who owns Brazilian lands?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    13. Daniella Tiemi Sasaki Okida & Osmar Abílio de Carvalho Júnior & Osmar Luiz Ferreira de Carvalho & Roberto Arnaldo Trancoso Gomes & Renato Fontes Guimarães, 2021. "Relationship between Land Property Security and Brazilian Amazon Deforestation in the Mato Grosso State during the Period 2013–2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.
    14. Conceição, Katyanne V. & Chaves, Michel E.D. & Picoli, Michelle C.A. & Sánchez, Alber H. & Soares, Anderson R. & Mataveli, Guilherme A.V. & Silva, Daniel E. & Costa, Joelma S. & Camara, Gilberto, 2021. "Government policies endanger the indigenous peoples of the Brazilian Amazon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    15. P. Gallo & E. Albrecht, 2019. "Brazil and the Paris Agreement: REDD+ as an instrument of Brazil’s Nationally Determined Contribution compliance," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 123-144, February.
    16. Azhar, Badrul & Nobilly, Frisco & Lechner, Alex M. & Tohiran, Kamil Azmi & Maxwell, Thomas M.R. & Zulkifli, Raja & Kamel, Mohd Fathil & Oon, Aslinda, 2021. "Mitigating the risks of indirect land use change (ILUC) related deforestation from industrial palm oil expansion by sharing land access with displaced crop and cattle farmers," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    17. da Cruz, Denis Conrado & Ferreira, Gracialda Costa & Ribeiro, Sabrina Santos & Schwartz, Gustavo & Monteiro, André, 2022. "Priority areas for restoration in permanent preservation areas of rural properties in the Brazilian Amazon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    18. Rafael Araujo & Vitor Possebom & Gabriela Setti, 2025. "DETERring more than Deforestation: Environmental Enforcement Reduces Violence in the Amazon," Papers 2509.06076, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2026.
    19. Tacconi, Luca & Rodrigues, Rafael J. & Maryudi, Ahmad, 2019. "Law enforcement and deforestation: Lessons for Indonesia from Brazil," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 1-1.
    20. Bastiaan Reydon & Gabriel Pansani Siqueira & Delaide Silva Passos & Stephan Honer, 2022. "Unclear Land Rights and Deforestation: Pieces of Evidence from Brazilian Reality," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.

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