Governance assessment for the Deforestation and fire in the Amazon rainforest

Matilda Lenell, Kate Williman, Fernando Remolina

Amazon rainforest

RAISG Amazonian Network of Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information. (2012). Amazonia Under Pressure.

TOTAL AMAZON12 macrobasins33 million people385 indigenous groups8 countries1 colony1497 municipalities68 provinces/states/departments610 Protected areas2344 Indigenous Territories

Why Brazil? Majority of Amazon

RAISG Amazonian Network of Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information. (2012). Amazonia Under Pressure.

Why Brazil? Majority of Deforestation

Country % 2010

Bolivia 3,2

Brazil 6,2

Colombia 2,8

Ecuador 2,4

French Guiana 0,2

Guiana 1,4

Peru 6,2

Suriname 0,5

Venezuela 2,2

University of Maryland global forest change http://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/science-2013-global-forest

Percentage lost between 2000 and 2010

After a decade of reducing deforestation rates, Brazil reported a 28% increase in 2013, compared with 2012

Reuters - http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/14/us-brazil-amazon-idUSBRE9AD1BM20131114

Why Brazil? Driest, most prone to drought and fires

BrazilPeru

Colombia

Venezuela

Bolivia

Guya

na

Guya

ne

Surin

ame

Fires in the Amazon rainforest

Balch, J. K. (2014). Nature, 506, 41.

Range is local to global… and many interactions are reinforcing.

Adapted from Davidson et al (2012). The Amazon basin in transition. Nature, 481(7381)

Roads + deforestation pattern

Main institutions regulating the Amazon rainforest

Global/International/Transnational Level: • United Nations Environmental Programme

(UNEP)• The Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA)

program National/Local Level:• Conservation Units and Recognition of

Indigenous Land • Brazil Forest Code

Relevant actors at multiple levels

Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD)

United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP)

University of Maryland

Amazonian Network of Georreferenced of Social

Environmental Information (RAISG)

National Ministeries of the

Environment

Greenpeace, WWF, TNC, Rainforest Foundation, etc

National Research Centres of Amazonian Studies

(IPAM, IIPA, SINCHI,CEDAMAZ)

Municipalities, states / departments /

provinces, Protected Areas, Indigenous

Territories

Association of the Indigenous Land of

Xingu -ATIX-. Puerto Rastrojo

Farmers, timber companies, settlers, indigenous groups

National Foundation of the

Indian (Brazil)

GovernmentResearch

organisationsNGOs

Inter/Trans-national

Amazon region

National

Local

Problem of fitMismatches between the scale of the system, and the scale of the institutions that govern it

Threshold/cascading mismatch: • Deforested area = regime shift non-

rainforest• Flip from a sink to a source

Institutions

Conflict of objectives•Development (Brazilian national policy, Ministry for Agriculture) vs conservation (from international institutions, Ministry for Environment)• Integrated ecosystem spatial planningvsLocal focus (indigenous or conservation)Efficacy of protective institutions•Depends on type of protected area•Resources for implementation

Missing parts

• Possible perception of national sovereignty loss due to the “intervention” of countries that are not part of the Amazon rainforest.

• Consideration of other countries would be more complex as the causes of deforestation and fires vary according to the country – oil and gas, mining as well as agriculture.