The Effect of Dismantled Environmental Institutions on Protected Areas in Brazil

• In Event: Land Conservation and Protection Politics

Abstract

Conservation units have been shown to significantly reduce deforestation and are considered an important policy option for the preservation of our forests. However, a conservation unit’s ability to reduce deforestation varies with institutional and geographic context. In Brazil, the institutional infrastructure surrounding the national system of conservation units has been aggressively dismantled in recent years. Since 2016, funding for environmental and indigenous agencies has been significantly reduced while enforcement efforts have been greatly diminished. During the current government, key positions which used to be technocratic have been replaced with political actors aligned with Federal government interests. In this context, we analyze whether conservation units are still able to effectively protect the Amazon rainforest, despite the dismantling of institutions around them. We find that the conservation effects of indigenous lands with full property rights and sustainable use areas remain strong, compared both to indigenous lands without full property rights and to strictly protected areas. We attribute these results to whether a conservation unit is governed internally by local inhabitants or externally, by the state.

Authors

• Ella Bayi

• Kathryn Baragwanath, Australian Catholic University