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Biodiversity conservation and the Brazilian Forest Code : small-scale farmers and law compliance in Southern Brazil

Mariani Feistler, Aline LU (2013) In Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science MESM01 20131
LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
Abstract
Various strategies may be used to promote biodiversity conservation on private land and support conservation at the landscape level. Brazil has had a law that addresses this issue to some extent since 1934. It is called Forest Code (FC), and has been revised twice, in 1965 and 2012. One of the reasons that led to its most recent revision was insufficient compliance among landowners. Another argument was that it was difficult to conciliate agricultural practices and conservation needs as established by the FC in small rural properties. A case study was carried out in the municipality of Arroio do Tigre, state of Rio Grande do Sul, to investigate factors that influenced small-scale farmers’ motivations to comply with the FC. Semi-structured... (More)
Various strategies may be used to promote biodiversity conservation on private land and support conservation at the landscape level. Brazil has had a law that addresses this issue to some extent since 1934. It is called Forest Code (FC), and has been revised twice, in 1965 and 2012. One of the reasons that led to its most recent revision was insufficient compliance among landowners. Another argument was that it was difficult to conciliate agricultural practices and conservation needs as established by the FC in small rural properties. A case study was carried out in the municipality of Arroio do Tigre, state of Rio Grande do Sul, to investigate factors that influenced small-scale farmers’ motivations to comply with the FC. Semi-structured interviews with small-scale farmers were carried out, and data was examined through thematic analysis. Findings demonstrate that diverse factors affected their compliance decisions by influencing their instrumental, normative, and legitimacy motivations for compliance. These factors are enforcement of the law, socioeconomic conditions, perceptions about forests, group behavior, distribution of costs and benefits, and contradictory governmental policies. Awareness about regulations also played a role. Strategies that could support increased conformity with the FC, as well as the possibility of the 2012 FC achieving greater compliance, and considerations on implications of the latest version of the law for biodiversity conservation are discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Mariani Feistler, Aline LU
supervisor
organization
course
MESM01 20131
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
sustainability science, biodiversity conservation strategies, private land, regulation, compliance theory, Atlantic Forest
publication/series
Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science
report number
2013:006
language
English
id
3813592
date added to LUP
2013-06-17 15:18:41
date last changed
2013-06-17 15:18:41
@misc{3813592,
  abstract     = {{Various strategies may be used to promote biodiversity conservation on private land and support conservation at the landscape level. Brazil has had a law that addresses this issue to some extent since 1934. It is called Forest Code (FC), and has been revised twice, in 1965 and 2012. One of the reasons that led to its most recent revision was insufficient compliance among landowners. Another argument was that it was difficult to conciliate agricultural practices and conservation needs as established by the FC in small rural properties. A case study was carried out in the municipality of Arroio do Tigre, state of Rio Grande do Sul, to investigate factors that influenced small-scale farmers’ motivations to comply with the FC. Semi-structured interviews with small-scale farmers were carried out, and data was examined through thematic analysis. Findings demonstrate that diverse factors affected their compliance decisions by influencing their instrumental, normative, and legitimacy motivations for compliance. These factors are enforcement of the law, socioeconomic conditions, perceptions about forests, group behavior, distribution of costs and benefits, and contradictory governmental policies. Awareness about regulations also played a role. Strategies that could support increased conformity with the FC, as well as the possibility of the 2012 FC achieving greater compliance, and considerations on implications of the latest version of the law for biodiversity conservation are discussed.}},
  author       = {{Mariani Feistler, Aline}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science}},
  title        = {{Biodiversity conservation and the Brazilian Forest Code : small-scale farmers and law compliance in Southern Brazil}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}