Brazil—Property Rights and Resource Governance Profile

These factors contribute to rural poverty, violence, human rights abuses, and exploitation of rural workers in conditions of servitude. The lack of available land causes thousands of Brazilians to settle in slums and shantytowns in urban areas controlled by gangs engaged in drug trafficking and violent crime. Brazil has initiated numerous programs to facilitate access to land for the landless through state-led approaches involving expropriation and redistribution of idle or unproductive lands, settlement on government-owned lands, market-assisted land reform providing subsidized loans to the landless for purchase of farms, and tenure regularization for indigenous and Afro-Brazilian communities. However, issues remain, particularly for landless peasants. Large farms continue to displace smallholders who lack formal land titles, resulting in social movements that pressure the government to promote reform. Brazil possesses 12% of the world's reserve of available freshwater, with nearly 73% of its freshwater concentrated in the sparsely populated Amazon River Basin. The country supports a section of the Pantanal wetland, one of the largest continuous wetlands in the world, which is under pressure from expansion of large soy and sugar plantations. Water pollution and availability issues exist in the industrialized south and southeast, which is home to nearly 60% of the population. Brazil has attempted to decentralize governance of freshwater resources but continues to struggle with inclusion of local institutions in decision-making. The country's mining sector is one of the largest and most well-developed in the world, but it is still working to clarify precise roles and responsibilities of the federal, state, and municipal governments in administering the sector to avoid confusion and conflict. Laws and policy on small- and medium-sized mining companies also need clarification, particularly regarding the rights of artisanal miners over certain minerals. Mineral deposits often lie within indigenous lands, creating conflicts, sometimes violent, between indigenous communities and artisanal miners. Brazil's economy relies heavily on its natural resource base, and the country faces the challenge of productively harnessing its resources while ensuring adequate environmental protection and achieving sustainable development. The country's wetlands are under pressure, and water pollution and availability issues exist in southern Brazil. With support from international donors, Brazil has managed to increase water supply and sanitation coverage to poorer sections of the population, but affordability remains a question. The country's legal framework in the environmental and forestry areas spreads governance responsibilities among a number of state- and federal-level institutions, which can create confusion and conflict. Brazil hosts extensive forests, grasslands, and wetland ecosystems, including the Amazon forest, which comprises nearly 49% of the national territory. The Amazonian ecosystem provides critical national and global services, including serving as a major carbon reservoir and regulator of climate in the region, and it is a producer of freshwater and other aquatic ecosystem services. Economic growth and agricultural policies have allowed the opening up of the forest frontier and clearing of forests for soybean and cattle-ranching. Small farmers have been provided forest lands for cultivation to address land-related inequities and the high levels of landlessness. The current legal framework provides some form of protection to an estimated 3.7 million square kilometers of public and private lands in the form of conservation units, indigenous lands, permanent preservation areas, and legal reserves. Despite the legal provisions, significant human and development activities continue to put pressure on all of these areas.