Marked non-compliance with deforestation embargoes in the Brazilian Amazon

Advances in monitoring capacity and strengthened law enforcement have helped to reduce deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon since the early 2000s. Embargoes imposed on the use of deforested land are important instruments for deterring deforestation and enabling forest recovery. However, the extent to which landowners respect embargoes in the Brazilian Amazon is unknown. In this study, we evaluated the current recovery status of embargoes due to deforestation imposed between 2008 and 2017 to conduct the first large-scale assessment of compliance with embargo regulations. We observed forest recovery in only 13.1% (±1.1%) of embargoed polygons, while agriculture and pasture activities were maintained in 86.9% (±1.8%) of embargoed polygons. Thus, landowners openly continue to disrespect environmental legislation in the majority of embargoed areas. We attribute the marked non-compliance observed to limited monitoring of embargoed areas, as environmental agents seldom return to verify the status of embargoed lands after they have been imposed. Recent advances in remote sensing provide low-cost ways to monitor compliance and should form the basis of concerted efforts to ensure that the law is observed and that those responsible for illegal deforestation do not benefit from it.