What Is The Brazilian Government Doing To Reduce Deforestation Rates Within The Amazon And How Successful Has It Been?
During the years 1996 to 2005 the average yearly deforestation rate was around 19,500 square kilometres. Since 2005 the rate has been drastically reduced to around 7000 square kilometres a year or around 40% of the 1996-2005 average. The government has helped achieved this vast reduction in a number of ways. The first key government actions to reduce the deforestation rate were the expansion of land designated as national park or indigenous reserves. By stamping government ownership on much of the Amazon people have been deterred from taking land and clearing it by the prospect of potential government sanctions.
The government has been undertaking landmark cases in using the law to punish those having a detrimental effect on the environment. In 2008 it confiscated 3000 cattle from someone trying to ranch in a protected area. The environmental secretary of Mato Grosso was arrested for an illegal logging scam. The government has also increased funding to the INPE which is Brazil’s national space agency; this has allowed them to get bi-weekly deforestation reports so large scale deforestation cannot be hidden. With current rates of improvement the Amazon can expect to stop losing forest by 2030. The World Bank has recommended that Brazil should reforest 40 million Hectares of illegally deforested land.
The National environmental agency IBAMA has only 6 helicopters to police the Amazon and currently it only manages to extract fines from 10% of those convicted of illegal deforestation. Currently there is a law demanding all Amazon landholders must have 80% tree cover many see this as unreasonable and uneconomical for business. Also the massive global increase in food demand is pushing up Brazilian export levels and large agricultural businesses are pushing for more land. Current Brazilian cattle production is highly inefficient; only 1 cattle is produced for every hectare of land. If productivity levels for cattle could be increased then some of the 200million hectares of land currently used could be reallocated to more profitable crops. 
Many want the Amazonian economy to have clear laws and legislation as well as legalising what land can be used. Once land registry is solved and a set of taxes are implemented big companies can make many cattle ranches more efficient since them being legal will allow banks to loan to them. The additional tax could help with policing the Amazon and providing better local services. Brazil also pledged to cut emissions by 39% by 2020. Over 40% of Brazil’s energy is from renewable sources, rebranding Brazil as an eco-friendly economy could give it dominance over many lucrative markets. If Brazil can clear the issues preventing them from saving their environment then they will benefit substantially in economic terms.
The scheme has been overwhelmingly successful so far, the reduction in deforestation rates by over 60% has slowed deforestation greatly and if the progress is maintained the Amazon could start reforesting after 2030. The success has been mainly thanks to the government reforming the way the Amazon is treated and the way land is issued and policed. However, the success will be hollow if the future governments do not continue to pursue similar policies of Amazonian protection.