Importance of legislation for maintaining forests on private properties in the Brazilian Cerrado

This paper evaluates compliance with environmental laws in the municipality of Sorriso and the impact of changing legislation on vegetation. To verify the size of the properties, the areas designated as legal reserves (LRs), permanent protection areas (APPs), and springs were studied. Details of compliance with the New Forest Code (NFC) were drawn from the Rural Environmental Register (CAR) database. The database provided by PRODES/CERRADO was used to gather data to monitor deforested areas. SojaMaps data were used to verify the areas used for soybean cultivation followed by the Perpendicular Crop Enhancement Index. The data were plotted and superimposed on the deforestation data provided by PRODES/CERRADO. The areas were calculated using QGiS software version 2.18.22. The results showed that only 20.04% of the original Cerrado vegetation cover remains in the municipality. The results also revealed environmental LR, APP, and spring deficits of 92,772.32, 1,656.28, and 322.86 ha, respectively. Measures such as the CAR in the New Forest Code are ineffective for inhibiting illegal deforestation, and new legislation authorized the loss of 75.22% of the APP areas due for recovery. The proposed changes to eliminate LRs will allow the suppression of 91,000 ha of vegetation in Sorriso. Expanding the Amazon Soy Moratorium to the Cerrado could bring immediate benefits to the maintenance of the last continuous forested areas in this biome.