UFMG study shows that another 74 million are likely to receive payments for environmental services
The country has 21 million hectares deforested which, to comply with legal requirements, must be restored or compensated. The data are from , carried out by the Remote Sensing Center at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais).
On the other hand, according to the study, the country has an average of 74 million hectares of native vegetation on rural properties awaiting payment for environmental services. These are areas that exceed the requirements set out in the Forest Code and whose owners could receive payment for keeping the vegetation standing.
Together, these areas total 95 million hectares awaiting restoration actions and payment for environmental services. 
To give you an idea, each hectare is approximately equivalent to an official football field.
Carried out with technology developed by UFMG itself, the study calculated the requirements of the Forest Code and compliance by each of the more than 7 million rural properties registered in the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry), which is the mandatory national electronic public registry. for all rural properties and possessions.
Revised in 2012, the Forest Code (), defines the rules for the protection of Brazilian native vegetation, determining, for example, for each type of rural property the minimum areas that must be protected.
“If the property has a percentage above what is required by law, the Forest Code itself establishes the possibility of issuing an environmental reserve quota, which would be the basis for payments for environmental services or forest asset markets.”, explained the associate researcher at the UFMG Remote Sensing Center, Felipe Nunes, co-author of the study.
This payment can be made either by the Union, by states and municipalities or even by the private sector.
“When you pay for environmental services, you, as the owner, are receiving payment for keeping that native vegetation standing. To keep that forest standing. You can have government or even private programs that use this ballast, this information, so that the owner is remunerated for the environmental service that that area is providing.”, said the researcher.
In addition to the areas of native vegetation above what is required, the study also identified areas with a deficit of native vegetation, which need to be restored or compensated.
The 2012 revision of the Forest Code established amnesty for deforestation carried out until 2008. Despite being amnestied, the owner needs to regularize the situation of the property if it does not have the minimum required by law.
“The owner needs to restore this vegetation at his own expense, that is, with his own investments, or regularize it, compensating in other areas or even working on restoration in other areas, as long as it follows some established criteria”, warned Felipe Nunes.
FRAUD AND DEFORESTATION
The study also points out that, after 2008, 26% of deforestation in rural properties occurred in APA (Permanent Preservation Area) or in properties with legal reserves below the minimum percentage established by the Forest Code. The states with the highest index were, in ascending order, Rondônia, Acre, Pará, Roraima and Amazonas, all within the Legal Amazon.
The 3rd Panorama of the Forest Code also noted an increase in records overlapping with other land categories, especially public lands without destination, that is, Public Power lands, for which the use has not been defined. The most critical area is also the Legal Amazon. In this area, overlaps increased from 12.4% to 18.3% in the last year, with 13,433 records overlapping with conservation units, 2,360 with indigenous lands and 206,495 with public lands without specific destination.
For the researcher, this raises an alert and the need to improve the National Rural Environmental Registry System.
“It is a system completely inadequate for the size of the Brazilian territory and for all the distinct geographic characteristics they have. And it lacks basic mechanisms, which we already have technology for. For example, you register an area on top of an indigenous territory. This system cannot accept this type of registration, because it is an irregular registration, there cannot be private property within indigenous land according to our legislation.”, explained Felipe Nunes.
In total, according to the researcher, more than 200,000 properties were identified in irregular situations and possible fraud. “The CAR itself, which is an instrument created to monitor the territory and combat illegal deforestation and land grabbing, is being used for deforestation and land grabbing itself“, he complained.
“The system, in addition to prohibiting any registration in these areas, because we already have the technology and cartography for this, needs to remove from the system everyone who has done this previously”, he defended.
According to the researcher, improvements in registration and monitoring, guaranteeing possible payments and combating fraud, can help with the country’s economic development.
“Brazil’s largest asset is its forestry assets. Brazilian agribusiness has a unique production capacity in the world, and combined with environmental preservation, transforms Brazil into an agro-environmental powerhouse. If Brazil has the availability of millions and millions of hectares of preserved vegetation and a thriving agricultural production, it can then have the leadership of a new global agenda, not only national but also global, of payment for environmental services, of agricultural sustainability , but also implement one of the largest large-scale forest restoration programs in the world”, he concluded.
With information from .
