Since 2004, the relative contribution to annual deforestation by smallholders increased by two thirds
By Anastasia Moloney
BOGOTA, Oct 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Smallholder farmers are not responsible for most of the destruction of Brazil's Amazon rainforest but their contribution to deforestation is rising and must be addressed if the country is to hold on to recent gains, a research group said.
Government efforts led to a 77 percent fall in deforestation in the Amazon between 2004 and 2011, but progress has slowed and deforestation is rising, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) said in a report.
It said between 2004 and 2011, landowners with more than 500 hectares of property were responsible for about 48 percent of the deforestation. Areas owned by smallholders accounted for 12 percent of the forests destroyed during the same period.
However, since 2004, the relative contribution to annual deforestation by large landowners fell by two-thirds, while that of smallholders increased by a similar proportion, SEI said.
"Despite the gains made to stem deforestation from 2004 onwards .. the outlook today is not all positive," said Javier Godar, a research fellow at SEI and lead author of the study.
In 2013, deforestation increased 28 percent compared with the previous year.
Godar said part of the reason for the rise was that many conservation areas had been scaled down or had their protection status changed, and flagship public-private initiatives, such as a moratorium on trading soybeans from newly deforested areas in the Amazon, were about to end.
A boom in infrastructure projects in the Amazon since 2009, such as the building of new roads and dams, may also be contributing to Brazil's rising deforestation rates, Godar said.
Forest cut down for timber and turned into pasture for livestock grazing, along with soy crop and palm oil production, are putting pressure on the Amazon as Brazil seeks to maintain its position as the world's second-largest producer of soybeans and a leading exporter of food.
"Deforestation is spreading to more remote and unpopulated areas of the Amazon with a weaker government presence, which shows that the agricultural frontier is still expanding and new areas are being opened up," Godar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview.
"Further reductions in deforestation in the Amazon are challenging both because deforestation is happening in more small and remote areas, and is therefore harder to detect and more expensive to control," he said.
COSTLY PUNITIVE MEASURES
Policies to end deforestation are essential for curbing climate change, experts say. But if Brazil is to cut deforestation beyond current rates, new initiatives that target small farmers are needed, the study said.
It recommended schemes that provide credit to Brazil's six million small landowners living in rural areas in the Amazon and promote more efficient farming techniques among small farmers, as well as large landowners.
"Targeting smallholders with the same punitive measures used for large landowners, when they have far fewer resources, would be too costly and arguably not socially or politically acceptable," Godar said.
"They have deforested far less than the large landowners to date ... hold more forested areas and their forests are on average in better condition, so it's important to help them preserve those forests, rather than point the finger at them."
The U.N.-backed Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) scheme, which provides financial incentives to developing countries to protect their forests, is hailed as a key initiative in the battle against the destruction of rainforests worldwide.
But it has so far been "an experimental pilot project", Godar said, adding: "At current funding levels, the benefits of REDD+ are only likely to reach thousands of farmers, a tiny percentage of the total rural population who live in the Brazilian Amazon."
Godar said he did not expect environmental issues to be a priority in Brazil ahead of an Oct. 26 presidential election runoff between incumbent Dilma Rousseff and rival Aecio Neves.
"The main issue in the coming election, regardless of the party that will win it, is Brazil's economy, which has been in stagnation since 2011," Godar said.
"Both individuals and the private sector are in debt .. and so environmental issues aren't at the forefront of the candidates or most voter concerns."
(Reporting By Anastasia Moloney; Editing by Katie Nguyen)
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