Land Tenure and the Effect of the Terra Legal Program on Deforestation

Land occupations that registered with the Terra Legal program showed a reduction in deforestation while in the program. Implementation of the program should continue, however any changes to eligibility, such as updated occupation requirements, would require additional study. The Amazon region has historically had a chaotic land tenure situation. Illegal occupations and land conflicts have been common in many areas where the delineation of lands and legitimization of property rights are difficult. In 2003, around 53% of the Amazon lacked clear definition of property ownership. Government records showed irregular occupation in over 300,000 holdings covering 42 million hectares. In Pará alone, there were 1,303 land conflicts from 1997-2011. The Terra Legal program was created in 2009 to resolve land tenure issues for tens of thousands of small and medium landholders. Implemented by the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA) with support from the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), the program aimed to simplify the titling process for areas of less than 15 fiscal modules (~1,500 hectares) by creating a four-step process for regularization: registration of areas, inspection of sites, titling, and monitoring post-titling. Registrants must prove occupation and direct use of land prior to December 1, 2004. The initial goal was to regularize 300,000 land occupations in 463 municipalities. As of December 31, 2014, 126,540 land occupations covering nearly 21 million hectares had registered, with 18,731 occupations totaling 11 million hectares (~53%) having been titled for both public and private purposes. A study examined changes before and after registration on lands that entered Terra Legal by 2014, considering deforestation rates from 2009-2014, after accounting for cumulative deforestation up to 2009. The study created several different models to determine whether the program had an effect on deforestation rates on registered lands. The simulation showed that the difference in year-to-year deforestation on registered lands and those not yet part of the program was significant in every year except 2011, with registered lands showing lower deforestation rates. In the first model, occupations that entered Terra Legal earlier showed less cumulative deforestation during the five-year period examined. Cumulative deforestation on occupations registered in 2010 was 2.0% lower than similar areas that were registered in the last year (2014) of the data set. TL registration is also associated with a lower probability that properties show any deforestation in a given year. This analysis shows that registration with Terra Legal is associated with reduced deforestation in previously occupied lands. This suggests that increasing governance of land tenure has a role to play in curbing deforestation, along with other strategies. However, these results reflect a short-term result for areas that were already occupied. It may have different long-term effects if it encourages relocation and use of new areas. Encouraging people to relocate to remote areas of the Amazon could begin a process that indirectly leads to greater pressure on forest resources. Greater population in these areas can lead to greater infrastructure and investment, which, in time, may make remote regions more accessible and land use in the Amazon more attractive.