Skip to content
President Lulaindependent documentary archive

Independent archive. Not affiliated with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Government of Brazil or any party. Who we are

Plan · PPCDAm

Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm)

Also known as Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation, Fires and Illegal Logging in the Brazilian Amazon (title of the preliminary report of the Interministerial Working Group, September 2003).

Problem
Reduce deforestation in the Legal Amazon. According to the TCU, deforestation reached its highest rate in 1995 and kept an upward curve until 2004, when it reached the second highest historical peak in the series that the INPE has measured since 1988.
Who it serves
The territory of the Legal Amazon, with action on federal bodies, municipalities listed annually by the MMA according to deforestation dynamics, and rural properties subject to registry updates and credit conditions; according to the MMA, the nine states of the region began to have their own state plans from 2008.
How it works
An interministerial plan that originated from the working group established by decree in July 2003 and provided for by the Decree of March 15, 2004, coordinated by the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office) until 2013, when coordination passed to the Ministry of the Environment, organized around axes of land tenure and territorial planning, environmental monitoring and control, and promotion of sustainable productive activities, to which the 2023 decree adds normative and economic instruments. According to the INPE, PRODES measures the annual rate and DETER issues daily alerts in support of enforcement. Decree 6,321/2007 created the annual list of municipalities and registry restrictions, and CMN Resolution 3,545/2008 required environmental compliance in rural credit in the Amazon Biome until its repeal in 2021. In 2019, Decree 10,142 repealed the 2003 and 2004 decrees; Decree 11,367/2023 reestablished the PPCDAm, with an interministerial commission chaired by the Casa Civil.

Environment

Relation to the Lula governments

Created under Lula · First term (2003 to 2006) · from July 2003 to 2006

The Decree of July 3, 2003, signed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, José Dirceu de Oliveira e Silva and Marina Silva, established the Permanent Interministerial Working Group with the purpose of proposing measures and coordinating actions to reduce deforestation rates in the Legal Amazon, starting with land tenure planning in the municipalities of the Arc of Deforestation.[1]

The preliminary report of the Interministerial Working Group, of September 2003, presented, in accordance with the Presidential Decree of July 3, 2003, the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation, Burning and Illegal Logging in the Brazilian Amazon, organized into four subgroups (environmental monitoring and control, land tenure planning, promotion of sustainable productive activities and infrastructure), and provided for consultations with state governments, the private sector and organized civil society to finalize the document.[2]

The Decree of March 15, 2004 gave new wording to the Decree of July 3, 2003 to determine that the group submit to the President of the Republic the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon, to be updated annually, and added the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the group.[3]

The Decree of March 15, 2004 established the Executive Commission of the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon, coordinated by the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), to monitor the implementation of the plan, propose measures to overcome difficulties and prepare monthly reports to the bodies of the interministerial group.[4]

According to the document of the 5th phase of the PPCDAm, the first PPCDAm was launched in 2004, and one of its main innovations compared with earlier plans was its cross-cutting character, with the Permanent Interministerial Working Group under the coordination of the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office) and 11 more ministries, as well as greater participation of nongovernmental entities and researchers.[5]

Shared implementation · First term (2003 to 2006) · from 2004 to 2006

According to the TCU audit report, in 2004 the INPE launched the Real-Time Deforestation Detection System (Deter), with daily alerts of forest cover change in the region.[6]

According to the document of the 3rd phase of the PPCDAm (MMA, 2013), in the first phase (2004 to 2008) the land tenure and territorial planning axis recorded the creation of more than 25 million hectares of federal conservation units and the ratification of 10 million hectares of Indigenous lands, and the states created 25 million hectares of conservation units.[7]

Reshaped under Lula · Second term (2007 to 2010) · from December 2007 to 2010

Decree No. 6,321 of December 21, 2007, determined that the Ministry of the Environment issue annually an ordinance with a list of municipalities of the Amazon Biome identified by the historical deforestation dynamics verified by the INPE, with criteria of total deforested area, area deforested in the last three years and increase in the rate in at least three of the last five years.[8]

Under Decree No. 6,321/2007, rural properties in the municipalities on the list whose holders did not update their registry would have their records blocked in the National Rural Registry System until regularization, and authorizations for new deforestation above five hectares per year on properties larger than four fiscal modules came to require georeferencing certification by INCRA.[9]

The Decree of December 6, 2007 added to the interministerial group the Environmental Accountability Subworking Group, coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment, for coordinated actions to prevent and punish environmental crimes and infractions linked to deforestation, burning, and illegal exploitation of forests; the subgroup was revoked by Decree No. 7,957 of 2013.[10]

Resolution No. 3,545 of the National Monetary Council, published in the Official Gazette (DOU) of March 3, 2008, amended MCR 2-1 to require documentation proving environmental compliance and other conditions for agricultural financing in the Amazon Biome; it was revoked by CMN Resolution No. 4,903/2021 as of May 1, 2021.[11]

According to the Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation (2011), the 2008 revision of the plan reduced the number of actions, set targets, and developed the problem tree of deforestation, and the introduction of a system for monitoring the actions in 2009 represented progress over the previous phase.[12]

The Decree of September 15, 2010 gave new wording to the Decree of July 3, 2003, extending the purpose of the interministerial group to reducing deforestation in Brazilian biomes through action plans, and created the Executive Commission of the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and Burning in the Cerrado Biome (PPCerrado).[13]

Shared implementation · Second term (2007 to 2010) · from 2007 to 2010

According to the 3rd phase document, in 2008, seeking to act on 55% of the deforestation in the Amazon that occurred in 2007, 36 municipalities formed the first list of priority municipalities, formalized by MMA Ordinance No. 28/2008; later, MMA Ordinance No. 102/2009 added 7 municipalities, and the list rose to 43.[14]

According to the Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation (2011), the 2008 revision indicated planned resources of approximately R$936 million in the 2008 to 2011 Multi-Year Plan (PPA) for the PPCDAm actions.[15]

According to the 3rd phase document, the first State Plans for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation began to be prepared in 2008, with technical support from the Ministry of the Environment, and the nine states of the Legal Amazon came to have their plans.[16]

According to the summary of results for the period 2004 to 2011 in the 3rd phase document, the results listed include the creation of the Interministerial Commission for Combating Environmental Crimes and Infractions (CICCIA), the restriction of public credit to undertakings linked to illegal deforestation (Central Bank Resolution No. 3,545/2008), Operation Arco Verde, the concession of approximately 49,000 hectares of public forests for management and the Public Forest Management Law (Law No. 11,284/2006).[17]

Resumed under Lula · Third term (since 2023) · since January 2023

Decree No. 11,367 of January 1, 2023, signed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Marina Silva, established the Permanent Interministerial Commission for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and reinstated the PPCDAm, with the purpose of establishing interministerial measures and actions to reduce deforestation rates in the Legal Amazon, to be submitted to the President of the Republic and updated at least annually.[18]

Decree No. 11,367/2023 revoked Decrees No. 10,142/2019, No. 10,239/2020, No. 10,341/2020, and No. 10,450/2020.[19]

Reshaped under Lula · Third term (since 2023) · since January 2023

Under Decree No. 11,367/2023, the Permanent Interministerial Commission for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation is a collegiate body attached to the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), chaired by the Chief Minister of the Casa Civil, with the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change as executive secretariat, and it meets twice a year in ordinary session.[20]

Decree No. 11,367/2023 established the PPCDAm Executive Subcommission, coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and made up of representatives of ministries that include the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, and required monthly execution reports from the ministries to the subcommission.[21]

Decree No. 11,367/2023 set four axes for the deforestation prevention and control plans: sustainable productive activities; environmental monitoring and control; land and territorial planning; and normative and economic instruments.[22]

Decree No. 11,367/2023 required that the plans be prepared, monitored, and evaluated with transparency and social participation, through public consultation and technical-scientific seminars held annually, and that an annual monitoring report be published for each plan.[23]

Within the PPCDAm, according to the 5th phase document, zero deforestation refers to the elimination of illegal deforestation and the offsetting of the legal clearing of native vegetation and of the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from it.[24]

According to the 5th phase document (2023 to 2027), from April 10 to 26 the draft of the plan was submitted to public consultation and received more than 500 contributions from citizens, public and private institutions, universities, research centers, the productive sector, and civil society organizations.[25]

Origin and precursors

Origin milestone: founding legal act, First term (2003 to 2006).

The Decree of July 3, 2003, signed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, José Dirceu de Oliveira e Silva and Marina Silva, established the Permanent Interministerial Working Group with the purpose of proposing measures and coordinating actions to reduce deforestation rates in the Legal Amazon, starting with land tenure planning in the municipalities of the Arc of Deforestation.[1]

Precursors

  • Annual satellite monitoring of deforestation (PRODES/INPE Project, since 1988) earlier technical basis According to the TCU audit report in Ruling 1758/2021, from 1988 the INPE began monitoring deforestation in the Legal Amazon through the Prodes Project, with annual data on deforestation rates.[26]
  • Provisional Measure No. 1,511/1996 (amendment of the Forest Code in response to deforestation) similar initiative, no succession stated by the source According to the document of the 5th phase of the PPCDAm, in response to the increase in deforestation the Brazilian government issued Provisional Measure No. 1,511 of July 25, 1996, which amended Law No. 4,771.[27]
  • Deforestation control actions handled almost exclusively by the MMA and Ibama, before the plan similar initiative, no succession stated by the source According to the document of the 5th phase of the PPCDAm, in the period before the plan, deforestation control actions were almost exclusively the responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment, with Ibama as the executing body.[28]

Precursor investigation: new structure established (October 14, 2026).

Scope: Decree of July 3, 2003 (compiled Planalto text on the Internet Archive) and Decree of March 15, 2004 (original publication at the Chamber of Deputies); preliminary report of the Interministerial Working Group of September 2003 (ISA collection); history of earlier federal policies in the document of the 5th phase (PPG7 of 1990, MP 1,511/1996, exclusive actions of the MMA and Ibama); history in the TCU report (Ruling 1758/2021, items 30 to 36, PRODES since 1988, Ibama since 1989). Original document of the 1st phase (2004) not located.

Responsibilities

  • Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office) of the Presidency of the Republic (coordination of the interministerial group and of the Executive Commission from 2003 to 2013; chair of the Interministerial Commission since 2023) design

    In the original wording of the Decree of July 3, 2003, the group was coordinated by the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office) of the Presidency of the Republic and was to submit to the President of the Republic, within thirty days, an action plan with emergency measures.[29]

  • Ministry of the Environment (coordination of the Executive Commission since 2013; executive secretariat of the Interministerial Commission and coordination of the Executive Subcommission since 2023) federal management

    Decree No. 11,367/2023 established the PPCDAm Executive Subcommission, coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and made up of representatives of ministries that include the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, and required monthly execution reports from the ministries to the subcommission.[21]

  • Ministries that are members of the interministerial group and of the Executive Subcommission federal management

    According to the 5th phase document, the PPCDAm Executive Subcommission is made up of representatives of 13 ministries and coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment, with the responsibility of preparing the Action Plans for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and submitting them for approval by the Interministerial Commission.[30]

  • National Institute for Space Research (PRODES and DETER) partnership

    According to the INPE methodological note, DETER, launched in 2004, is an enforcement support system that produces daily alerts of vegetation change for areas greater than or equal to 3 hectares, distinct from the annual PRODES rate.[31]

  • National Monetary Council and Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) (conditional rural credit in the Amazon Biome) partnership

    Resolution No. 3,545 of the National Monetary Council, published in the Official Gazette (DOU) of March 3, 2008, amended MCR 2-1 to require documentation proving environmental compliance and other conditions for agricultural financing in the Amazon Biome; it was revoked by CMN Resolution No. 4,903/2021 as of May 1, 2021.[11]

  • States of the Legal Amazon (state plans for the prevention and control of deforestation) state implementation

    According to the 3rd phase document, the first State Plans for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation began to be prepared in 2008, with technical support from the Ministry of the Environment, and the nine states of the Legal Amazon came to have their plans.[16]

  • Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) (Ruling 1758/2021) oversight

    In Ruling 1758/2021 of the TCU Plenary (session of July 21, 2021, case 038.045/2019-2), the operational audit pointed to deficiencies in the National Plan for the Control of Illegal Deforestation 2020 to 2023 and in its operational plan, a lack of clear definition of the responsibilities of the main actors, and a decline, over time, in the participation of stakeholders in the policy.[32]

  • Citizens, universities, the productive sector and civil society organizations (public consultation of the 5th phase) social participation

    According to the 5th phase document (2023 to 2027), from April 10 to 26 the draft of the plan was submitted to public consultation and received more than 500 contributions from citizens, public and private institutions, universities, research centers, the productive sector, and civil society organizations.[25]

Timeline

Timeline of Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm)
DatePhaseWhat happened
1988StartINPE begins measuring the annual deforestation rate of the Legal Amazon through the PRODES Project (technical precedent).[26]
July 2003Legal actDecree of July 3, 2003 establishes the Permanent Interministerial Working Group to reduce deforestation in the Legal Amazon.[1]
September 2003AnnouncementThe group's preliminary report presents a proposed action plan, with consultations planned.[2]
March 2004Legal actDecree of March 15, 2004 names the Action Plan and creates the Executive Commission coordinated by the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office).[3]
2004LaunchLaunch of the first PPCDAm (1st phase, 2004 to 2008).[5]
2004StartINPE launches DETER, a daily alert system to support enforcement.[6]
December 2007Legal actDecree No. 6,321/2007 creates the basis for the annual list of priority municipalities and registry restrictions.[8]
March 2008Legal actCMN Resolution No. 3,545/2008 makes rural credit in the Amazon Biome conditional on environmental compliance.[11]
2008ImplementationFirst list of 36 priority municipalities (MMA Ordinance No. 28/2008).[14]
2009Implementation2nd phase of the PPCDAm (2009 to 2011), after the 2008 revision, with a system for monitoring the actions.[12]
September 2010Legal actDecree of September 15, 2010 extends the group's purpose to biomes and creates the PPCerrado Executive Commission.[13]
2011ImplementationIpea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation of the 2007 to 2010 period.[33]
June 2013Implementation3rd phase (2012 to 2015), under the Dilma Rousseff government; coordination of the Executive Commission passes to the MMA (Decree No. 7,957/2013).[34]
2016Implementation4th phase (2016 to 2020), with the axis of normative and economic instruments.[35]
April 2019InterruptionDecree No. 9,759/2019 abolishes collegiate bodies, including the PPCDAm Executive Commission.[36]
November 2019TerminationDecree No. 10,142/2019 revokes the 2003 and 2004 decrees and creates another executive commission within the MMA.[37]
July 2021ImplementationThe TCU rules on the operational audit of the deforestation control policy (Ruling 1758/2021).[32]
January 2023RelaunchDecree No. 11,367/2023 reinstates the PPCDAm and establishes the Permanent Interministerial Commission.[18]
April 2023AnnouncementDraft of the 5th phase under public consultation (April 10 to 26), with more than 500 contributions.[25]

How it works

In its original wording, the Decree of July 3, 2003 listed as instruments of the group, in addition to land tenure planning, tax and credit incentives for areas already deforested, environmentally sustainable infrastructure works, employment and income in the recovery of altered areas, incorporation into the production process of areas that are open and abandoned, and the integrated action of the federal monitoring and enforcement bodies in the Arc of Deforestation.[38]

Among the lines of action of the 5th phase is resuming the operation of the Amazon Fund and supporting its Steering Committee and the BNDES in preparing new guidelines aligned with the PPCDAm.[39]

Governance

According to the TCU audit report, the PPCDAm Executive Commission was initially under the coordination of the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office) of the Presidency of the Republic, and in 2013 the coordination passed to the Ministry of the Environment with Decree 7,957/2013.[40]

Changes

In the Planalto's compilation, Decree No. 6,321/2007 appears as repealed by Decree No. 11,687 of 2023.[41]

Implementation

According to the 3rd phase document, of the 211 main activities of phase 2 of the PPCDAm, 107 were selected for monitoring and regrouped into 64 activities; of these, 39% were fully accomplished, 30% partially, 17% showed no progress, and 14% were assessed only qualitatively.[42]

According to the same assessment, the land and territorial planning axis had 50% of its activities unaccomplished and 13% fully accomplished, while the monitoring and control axis had 38% fully accomplished and 38% partially accomplished.[43]

Observed results

A result observed during a term may have causes other than the program.

According to the 5th phase document, during the first phase of the PPCDAm (2004 to 2008) a drop of 53% in the annual rates measured by Prodes was recorded; in the second (2009 to 2011) and third (2012 to 2015) phases there were additional reductions, and in 2012 the rate reached 4.5 thousand km², the lowest value in the historical series.[44]

According to the Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation, from the start of the PPCDAm in 2004 to 2010 the average annual deforestation rate in the Amazon was 15.6 thousand km², and the annual rate fell from 27.4 thousand km² in 2004 to 6.5 thousand km² in 2010, the lowest level since annual measurements began in 1988.[45]

Impact evaluations

Evaluations with a causal design are flagged; association is not proof of effect.

In the same study, the authors conclude that agricultural prices have a causal effect on the deforestation rate in the Legal Amazon, with a different relationship for crops and for livestock; for this reason they control for these prices when estimating the effect of the policies.[46]

Audits

The Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation concluded that there was an imbalance in the degree of success among the three axes of the PPCDAm, with the monitoring and control axis achieving greater success than the land and territorial planning axis and the axis for promoting sustainable productive activities.[47]

According to the Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation, there was consensus among interviewees that, over the whole period of execution, the decisive actions for reducing deforestation were the improvement of command and control actions and the creation of new protected areas in threatened zones; for the 2007 to 2010 phase, command and control actions stood out, including the legal measures of late 2007.[48]

Ruling 1758/2021 recommended that the National Council of the Legal Amazon and the Ministry of the Environment identify and implement measures to restore Ibama's operational capacity for environmental enforcement, given the sharp reduction in its staff.[49]

Limitations

The Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation noted that it was not clear whether the observed reduction in deforestation was lasting or circumstantial, that in 2011 there were signs of a resumption of deforestation, and that the lack of clarity in land tenure was one of the main unresolved bottlenecks in the Amazon.[50]

The Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation pointed out that the plan was still largely based on bringing together actions that were already being carried out by various agencies, without a clear logical and temporal sequence among them.[51]

The authors of the study note that they still needed to identify the relative contribution of each policy, because the level of detail of the data did not allow the impact of individual measures to be assessed.[52]

The PPCDAm 3rd phase document (2013) cited the 2012 version of the PUC-Rio study, with an estimate of 27 to 62 thousand km² of avoided deforestation between mid-2005 and mid-2009, or 32% to 52% of what would have been deforested without the policies; the revised 2015 version estimates about 73,000 km² (56%), in the original's notation.[53]

Context

According to the TCU audit report in Ruling 1758/2021, deforestation in the Legal Amazon reached its highest rate in 1995 and kept an upward curve until 2004, when it reached the second highest historical peak.[54]

The preliminary report of the Interministerial Working Group (September 2003) recorded the INPE estimate of an increase from 18,166 km² between August 2000 and August 2001 to 25,476 km² between August 2001 and August 2002, an increase of around 40%.[55]

According to the 5th phase document, after 2012 the plan gradually lost centrality on the government agenda, and in 2013 coordination of the interministerial group was transferred from the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office) to the Ministry of the Environment; agendas that required interministerial coordination, such as infrastructure, rural credit, and the creation of conservation units, lost priority, while monitoring and control actions continued to be improved.[56]

According to the TCU, in 2020 the PPCDAm was ended and succeeded by the National Plan for the Control of Illegal Deforestation and Recovery of Native Vegetation 2020 to 2023, which covers all biomes and is not specific to the Amazon; the new plan has five axes: zero tolerance for illegal deforestation, land tenure regularization, territorial planning, payment for environmental services, and bioeconomy.[57]

According to the 5th phase document, in 2010 Ibama and ICMBio had 4,420 and 2,832 permanent staff, respectively, and in 2016 these numbers reached 3,585 and 1,792, a 25% reduction in the total for the two agencies.[58]

Methodology

According to the INPE methodological note, the annual PRODES rate estimates deforestation from August to July (for example, the rate for PRODES year 2020 estimates the deforestation that occurred between August 1, 2019 and July 31, 2020) and, in the Amazon, only polygons with an area greater than 6.25 hectares enter the rate.[59]

Related indicators

A change in an indicator during a term does not, by itself, prove an effect of the program.

Sources and evidence

Excerpts are quoted in the original language of the source.

  1. 1. The Decree of July 3, 2003, signed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, José Dirceu de Oliveira e Silva and Marina Silva, established the Permanent Interministerial Working Group with the purpose of proposing measures and coordinating actions to reduce deforestation rates in the Legal Amazon, starting with land tenure planning in the municipalities of the Arc of Deforestation.

    • Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003 (institui Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial), texto compilado · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured July 12, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. Compiled Planalto text, with successive wordings interleaved and marked; it is not the original DOU publication. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 1, original wording. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Fica instituído Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial com a finalidade de propor medidas e coordenar ações que visem a redução dos índices de desmatamento na Amazônia Legal, por meio dos seguintes instrumentos: I - ordenamento fundiário nos Municípios que compõem o Arco de Desmatamento;”
    • Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003 (institui Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial), texto compilado · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured July 12, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. Compiled Planalto text, with successive wordings interleaved and marked; it is not the original DOU publication. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: closing and signatures. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Brasília, 3 de julho de 2003; 182 o da Independência e 115 o da República. LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA José Dirceu de Oliveira e Silva Marina Silva”

  2. 2. The preliminary report of the Interministerial Working Group, of September 2003, presented, in accordance with the Presidential Decree of July 3, 2003, the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation, Burning and Illegal Logging in the Brazilian Amazon, organized into four subgroups (environmental monitoring and control, land tenure planning, promotion of sustainable productive activities and infrastructure), and provided for consultations with state governments, the private sector and organized civil society to finalize the document.

  3. 3. The Decree of March 15, 2004 gave new wording to the Decree of July 3, 2003 to determine that the group submit to the President of the Republic the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon, to be updated annually, and added the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the group.

  4. 4. The Decree of March 15, 2004 established the Executive Commission of the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon, coordinated by the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), to monitor the implementation of the plan, propose measures to overcome difficulties and prepare monthly reports to the bodies of the interministerial group.

    • Decreto de 15 de março de 2004 (altera o Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003), publicação original · Chamber of Deputies (Computerized Legislation) Official legal act
      Where: art. 2 (art. 3-A added). Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “"Art. 3º-A Fica instituída a Comissão Executiva do Plano de Ação para a Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia Legal, com as seguintes finalidades: I - monitorar e acompanhar a implementação do Plano; II - propor medidas para superar eventuais dificuldades na implementação do Plano; III - elaborar relatórios mensais aos órgãos integrantes do Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial.”
    • Decreto de 15 de março de 2004 (altera o Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003), publicação original · Chamber of Deputies (Computerized Legislation) Official legal act
      Where: art. 3-A, § 1, item I. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “§ 1º A Comissão Executiva será composta por um representante, titular e suplente, de cada órgão a seguir indicado: I - Casa Civil da Presidência da República, que a coordenará;”

  5. 5. According to the document of the 5th phase of the PPCDAm, the first PPCDAm was launched in 2004, and one of its main innovations compared with earlier plans was its cross-cutting character, with the Permanent Interministerial Working Group under the coordination of the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office) and 11 more ministries, as well as greater participation of nongovernmental entities and researchers.

  6. 6. According to the TCU audit report, in 2004 the INPE launched the Real-Time Deforestation Detection System (Deter), with daily alerts of forest cover change in the region.

  7. 7. According to the document of the 3rd phase of the PPCDAm (MMA, 2013), in the first phase (2004 to 2008) the land tenure and territorial planning axis recorded the creation of more than 25 million hectares of federal conservation units and the ratification of 10 million hectares of Indigenous lands, and the states created 25 million hectares of conservation units.

  8. 8. Decree No. 6,321 of December 21, 2007, determined that the Ministry of the Environment issue annually an ordinance with a list of municipalities of the Amazon Biome identified by the historical deforestation dynamics verified by the INPE, with criteria of total deforested area, area deforested in the last three years and increase in the rate in at least three of the last five years.

    • Decreto nº 6.321, de 21 de dezembro de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured May 19, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 2, caput. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “o Ministério do Meio Ambiente editará anualmente portaria com lista de Municípios situados no Bioma Amazônia, cuja identificação das áreas será realizada a partir da dinâmica histórica de desmatamento verificada pelo Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais - INPE, com base nos seguintes critérios:”
    • Decreto nº 6.321, de 21 de dezembro de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured May 19, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 2, items I to III. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “I - área total de floresta desmatada; II - área total de floresta desmatada nos últimos três anos; e III - aumento da taxa de desmatamento em pelo menos três, dos últimos cinco anos.”
    • Decreto nº 6.321, de 21 de dezembro de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured May 19, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: summary and header. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “DECRETO Nº 6.321, DE 21 DE DEZEMBRO DE 2007.”

  9. 9. Under Decree No. 6,321/2007, rural properties in the municipalities on the list whose holders did not update their registry would have their records blocked in the National Rural Registry System until regularization, and authorizations for new deforestation above five hectares per year on properties larger than four fiscal modules came to require georeferencing certification by INCRA.

    • Decreto nº 6.321, de 21 de dezembro de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured May 19, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 7. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Os imóveis rurais objeto do recadastramento de que trata o art. 3 o , cujos detentores não procederem à atualização cadastral, terão seus respectivos cadastros inibidos no Sistema Nacional de Cadastro Rural - SNCR, até a sua regularização.”
    • Decreto nº 6.321, de 21 de dezembro de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured May 19, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 6. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “as autorizações para novos desmatamentos em extensão superior a cinco hectares por ano nos imóveis com área superior a quatro módulos fiscais, situados nos Municípios da lista do art. 2 o , somente serão emitidas para os imóveis que possuam a certificação do georreferenciamento expedida pelo INCRA.”

  10. 10. The Decree of December 6, 2007 added to the interministerial group the Environmental Accountability Subworking Group, coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment, for coordinated actions to prevent and punish environmental crimes and infractions linked to deforestation, burning, and illegal exploitation of forests; the subgroup was revoked by Decree No. 7,957 of 2013.

    • Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003 (institui Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial), texto compilado · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured July 12, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. Compiled Planalto text, with successive wordings interleaved and marked; it is not the original DOU publication. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 3-B, caput (added by the Decree of December 6, 2007). Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Fica instituído, no âmbito do Grupo de Trabalho de que trata este Decreto, o Sub-Grupo de Trabalho de Responsabilização Ambiental, que terá os seguintes objetivos: (Incluído pelo Decreto de 6 de dezembro de 2007). (Revogado pelo Decreto nº 7.957, de 2013)”
    • Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003 (institui Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial), texto compilado · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured July 12, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. Compiled Planalto text, with successive wordings interleaved and marked; it is not the original DOU publication. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 3-B, item I. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “I - formular e implementar ações articuladas entre os órgãos federais que o integram para a prevenção e repressão aos crimes e infrações ambientais relacionados aos desmatamentos, queimadas e exploração ilegal de florestas em áreas prioritárias na Amazônia;”
    • Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003 (institui Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial), texto compilado · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured July 12, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. Compiled Planalto text, with successive wordings interleaved and marked; it is not the original DOU publication. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 3-B, § 1, item I. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “I - Ministério do Meio Ambiente, que o coordenará; (Incluído pelo Decreto de 6 de dezembro de 2007).”

  11. 11. Resolution No. 3,545 of the National Monetary Council, published in the Official Gazette (DOU) of March 3, 2008, amended MCR 2-1 to require documentation proving environmental compliance and other conditions for agricultural financing in the Amazon Biome; it was revoked by CMN Resolution No. 4,903/2021 as of May 1, 2021.

  12. 12. According to the Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation (2011), the 2008 revision of the plan reduced the number of actions, set targets, and developed the problem tree of deforestation, and the introduction of a system for monitoring the actions in 2009 represented progress over the previous phase.

  13. 13. The Decree of September 15, 2010 gave new wording to the Decree of July 3, 2003, extending the purpose of the interministerial group to reducing deforestation in Brazilian biomes through action plans, and created the Executive Commission of the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and Burning in the Cerrado Biome (PPCerrado).

    • Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003 (institui Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial), texto compilado · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured July 12, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. Compiled Planalto text, with successive wordings interleaved and marked; it is not the original DOU publication. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 1 (wording given by the Decree of September 15, 2010). Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Fica instituído Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial com a finalidade de propor medidas e coordenar ações que visem a redução dos índices de desmatamento nos biomas brasileiros, por meio da elaboração de planos de ação para a prevenção e o controle dos desmatamentos. (Redação dada pelo Decreto de 15 de setembro de 2010)”
    • Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003 (institui Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial), texto compilado · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured July 12, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. Compiled Planalto text, with successive wordings interleaved and marked; it is not the original DOU publication. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 3-C (added by the Decree of September 15, 2010). Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Fica criada a Comissão Executiva do Plano de Ação para Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento e das Queimadas no Bioma Cerrado - PPCerrado, vinculada ao Grupo de Trabalho, com as seguintes finalidades: (Incluído pelo Decreto de 15 de setembro de 2010)”

  14. 14. According to the 3rd phase document, in 2008, seeking to act on 55% of the deforestation in the Amazon that occurred in 2007, 36 municipalities formed the first list of priority municipalities, formalized by MMA Ordinance No. 28/2008; later, MMA Ordinance No. 102/2009 added 7 municipalities, and the list rose to 43.

  15. 15. According to the Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation (2011), the 2008 revision indicated planned resources of approximately R$936 million in the 2008 to 2011 Multi-Year Plan (PPA) for the PPCDAm actions.

  16. 16. According to the 3rd phase document, the first State Plans for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation began to be prepared in 2008, with technical support from the Ministry of the Environment, and the nine states of the Legal Amazon came to have their plans.

  17. 17. According to the summary of results for the period 2004 to 2011 in the 3rd phase document, the results listed include the creation of the Interministerial Commission for Combating Environmental Crimes and Infractions (CICCIA), the restriction of public credit to undertakings linked to illegal deforestation (Central Bank Resolution No. 3,545/2008), Operation Arco Verde, the concession of approximately 49,000 hectares of public forests for management and the Public Forest Management Law (Law No. 11,284/2006).

  18. 18. Decree No. 11,367 of January 1, 2023, signed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Marina Silva, established the Permanent Interministerial Commission for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and reinstated the PPCDAm, with the purpose of establishing interministerial measures and actions to reduce deforestation rates in the Legal Amazon, to be submitted to the President of the Republic and updated at least annually.

    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: summary. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Institui a Comissão Interministerial Permanente de Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento, restabelece o Plano de Ação para a Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia Legal - PPCDAm e dispõe sobre os Planos de Ação para a Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento no Cerrado, na Mata Atlântica, na Caatinga, no Pampa e no Pantanal.”
    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 2. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “O PPCDAm tem por finalidade estabelecer medidas e ações interministeriais para a redução dos índices de desmatamento na Amazônia Legal. Parágrafo único. O PPCDAm será submetido ao Presidente da República e atualizado no mínimo anualmente ou quando necessário.”
    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: closing and signatures. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Brasília, 1º de janeiro de 2023; 202º da Independência e 135º da República. LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA Maria Osmarina Marina Silva Vaz de Lima”

  19. 19. Decree No. 11,367/2023 revoked Decrees No. 10,142/2019, No. 10,239/2020, No. 10,341/2020, and No. 10,450/2020.

    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 15. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Ficam revogados: I - o Decreto nº 10.142, de 28 de novembro de 2019 ; e II - o Decreto nº 10.239, de 11 de fevereiro de 2020 ; III - o Decreto nº 10.341, de 6 de maio de 2020 ; e IV - o Decreto nº 10.450, de 10 de agosto de 2020.”

  20. 20. Under Decree No. 11,367/2023, the Permanent Interministerial Commission for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation is a collegiate body attached to the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), chaired by the Chief Minister of the Casa Civil, with the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change as executive secretariat, and it meets twice a year in ordinary session.

    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 3. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “A Comissão Interministerial Permanente de Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento, órgão colegiado vinculado à Casa Civil da Presidência da República, definirá e coordenará as ações interministeriais para a redução dos índices de desmatamento no território nacional.”
    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 5, item I. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “I - Ministro-Chefe da Casa Civil da Presidência da República, que a presidirá;”
    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 5, § 1. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “§ 1º O Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima exercerá a função de secretaria-executiva da Comissão Interministerial Permanente de Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento.”
    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 6. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “A Comissão Interministerial Permanente de Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento se reunirá, em caráter ordinário, semestralmente”

  21. 21. Decree No. 11,367/2023 established the PPCDAm Executive Subcommission, coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and made up of representatives of ministries that include the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, and required monthly execution reports from the ministries to the subcommission.

    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 8, caput and items I and XIII. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Art. 8º Fica instituída a Subcomissão Executiva do PPCDAm, composta por um representante, titular e suplente, dos seguintes órgãos: I - Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima, que a coordenará;”
    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 8, item XIII. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “XII - Ministério da Fazenda; e XIII - Ministério dos Povos Indígenas. § 1º Os membros da Subcomissão Executiva do PPCDAm”
    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 8, § 5. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “§ 5º Os Ministérios incumbidos das atividades incluídas no Plano deverão encaminhar relatórios mensais de execução à Subcomissão Executiva do PPCDAm.”

  22. 22. Decree No. 11,367/2023 set four axes for the deforestation prevention and control plans: sustainable productive activities; environmental monitoring and control; land and territorial planning; and normative and economic instruments.

    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 9. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Os eixos dos Planos de Ação para a Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento são: I - atividades produtivas sustentáveis; II - monitoramento e controle ambiental; III - ordenamento fundiário e territorial; e IV - instrumentos normativos e econômicos, dirigidos à redução do desmatamento e à concretização das ações abrangidas pelos demais eixos dos planos.”

  23. 23. Decree No. 11,367/2023 required that the plans be prepared, monitored, and evaluated with transparency and social participation, through public consultation and technical-scientific seminars held annually, and that an annual monitoring report be published for each plan.

    • Decreto nº 11.367, de 1º de janeiro de 2023 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured October 10, 2026); original address: planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 11, caput and § 1. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Os Planos de Ação para a Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento nos biomas serão elaborados, monitorados e avaliados com transparência e participação social, por meio de consulta pública e seminários técnico-científicos, com periodicidade anual. § 1º Será publicado relatório anual de monitoramento de cada Plano.”

  24. 24. Within the PPCDAm, according to the 5th phase document, zero deforestation refers to the elimination of illegal deforestation and the offsetting of the legal clearing of native vegetation and of the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from it.

  25. 25. According to the 5th phase document (2023 to 2027), from April 10 to 26 the draft of the plan was submitted to public consultation and received more than 500 contributions from citizens, public and private institutions, universities, research centers, the productive sector, and civil society organizations.

    • Plano de Ação para Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia Legal (PPCDAm), 5ª Fase (2023-2027) · Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Official record
      Where: p. 22 of the document (page 16 of the PDF). Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “No período de 10 a 26 de abril, a minuta do plano (versão preliminar) foi submetida à con- sulta pública e recebeu mais de 500 contribuições de cidadãos, instituições públicas e privadas, incluindo universidades, centros de pesquisa, representantes do setor produti- vo e organizações da sociedade civil.”

  26. 26. According to the TCU audit report in Ruling 1758/2021, from 1988 the INPE began monitoring deforestation in the Legal Amazon through the Prodes Project, with annual data on deforestation rates.

  27. 27. According to the document of the 5th phase of the PPCDAm, in response to the increase in deforestation the Brazilian government issued Provisional Measure No. 1,511 of July 25, 1996, which amended Law No. 4,771.

  28. 28. According to the document of the 5th phase of the PPCDAm, in the period before the plan, deforestation control actions were almost exclusively the responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment, with Ibama as the executing body.

  29. 29. In the original wording of the Decree of July 3, 2003, the group was coordinated by the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office) of the Presidency of the Republic and was to submit to the President of the Republic, within thirty days, an action plan with emergency measures.

    • Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003 (institui Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial), texto compilado · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured July 12, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. Compiled Planalto text, with successive wordings interleaved and marked; it is not the original DOU publication. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 2, caput and item I, original wording. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “O Grupo de Trabalho será composto pelos titulares dos seguintes órgãos: I - Casa Civil da Presidência da República, que o coordenará;”
    • Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003 (institui Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial), texto compilado · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured July 12, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. Compiled Planalto text, with successive wordings interleaved and marked; it is not the original DOU publication. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 3, original wording. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “O Grupo de Trabalho submeterá ao Presidente da República, no prazo de trinta dias, a contar da data da publicação deste Decreto, plano de ação contendo as medidas emergenciais a serem implementadas.”

  30. 30. According to the 5th phase document, the PPCDAm Executive Subcommission is made up of representatives of 13 ministries and coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment, with the responsibility of preparing the Action Plans for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation and submitting them for approval by the Interministerial Commission.

  31. 31. According to the INPE methodological note, DETER, launched in 2004, is an enforcement support system that produces daily alerts of vegetation change for areas greater than or equal to 3 hectares, distinct from the annual PRODES rate.

    • Metodologia utilizada nos sistemas PRODES e DETER – 2ª edição · INPE Official statistics
      Where: section 4 (DETER, Materials and Methods). Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “O DETER, lançado em 2004, é um sistema de apoio à fiscalização que mapeia de maneira expedita supressão e degradação florestal na ALB, e áreas com supressão de vegetação primária nas formações savânicas e florestais do bioma Cerrado. O DETER produz diariamente avisos de alteração na vegetação para áreas maiores ou iguais a 3 hectares.”
    • Metodologia utilizada nos sistemas PRODES e DETER – 2ª edição · INPE Official statistics
      Where: section 4. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Já os avisos do DETER são disponibilizados na internet com um calendário diferenciado para os órgãos de fiscalização, que recebem em tempo quase real, conforme são produzidos, através de acesso ao banco de dados com controle de usuário e senha.”

  32. 32. In Ruling 1758/2021 of the TCU Plenary (session of July 21, 2021, case 038.045/2019-2), the operational audit pointed to deficiencies in the National Plan for the Control of Illegal Deforestation 2020 to 2023 and in its operational plan, a lack of clear definition of the responsibilities of the main actors, and a decline, over time, in the participation of stakeholders in the policy.

  33. 33. The evaluation of the PPCDAm from 2007 to 2010 was carried out by a team from Ipea, Cepal, and GIZ, between October 2010 and July 2011, at the invitation of the Ministry of the Environment and the PPCDAm Executive Commission, then coordinated by the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), with more than 100 interviews.

  34. 34. The 3rd phase of the PPCDAm (2012 to 2015), published in June 2013 under the Dilma Rousseff government, was coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment and the Permanent Interministerial Working Group; according to the document itself, as of Decree No. 7,957 of March 12, 2013, coordination of the Executive Commission passed from the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office) to the Ministry of the Environment.

  35. 35. According to the TCU audit report, the 4th phase of the PPCDAm (2016 to 2020) was approved with the challenge of reversing the upward trend in deforestation, introduced a fourth axis, related to economic instruments, and its implementation was marked by strong political instability, followed by a government transition with ruptures in Brazilian environmental policy.

  36. 36. According to the TCU audit report, in April 2019 Decree 9,759 abolished several collegiate bodies of the federal public administration, including the PPCDAm Executive Commission.

  37. 37. Decree No. 10,142 of November 28, 2019, signed by Jair Messias Bolsonaro and Ricardo de Aquino Salles, established the Executive Commission for the Control of Illegal Deforestation and Recovery of Native Vegetation within the Ministry of the Environment and revoked the Decree of July 3, 2003 and the Decree of March 15, 2004.

    • Decreto nº 10.142, de 28 de novembro de 2019 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured May 19, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 1. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Fica instituída a Comissão Executiva para Controle do Desmatamento Ilegal e Recuperação da Vegetação Nativa, no âmbito do Ministério do Meio Ambiente.”
    • Decreto nº 10.142, de 28 de novembro de 2019 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured May 19, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 11. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Ficam revogados: I - o Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003; II - o Decreto de 15 de março de 2004;”
    • Decreto nº 10.142, de 28 de novembro de 2019 · Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured May 19, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, General Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: closing and signatures. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Brasília, 28 de novembro de 2019; 198º da Independência e 131º da República. JAIR MESSIAS BOLSONARO Ricardo de Aquino Salles”

  38. 38. In its original wording, the Decree of July 3, 2003 listed as instruments of the group, in addition to land tenure planning, tax and credit incentives for areas already deforested, environmentally sustainable infrastructure works, employment and income in the recovery of altered areas, incorporation into the production process of areas that are open and abandoned, and the integrated action of the federal monitoring and enforcement bodies in the Arc of Deforestation.

    • Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003 (institui Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial), texto compilado · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured July 12, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. Compiled Planalto text, with successive wordings interleaved and marked; it is not the original DOU publication. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 1, items II to VI, original wording. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “II - incentivos fiscais e creditícios com o objetivo de aumentar a eficiência econômica e a sustentabilidade de áreas já desmatadas; III - procedimentos para a implantação de obras de infra-estrutura ambientalmente sustentáveis; IV - geração de emprego e renda em atividades de recuperação de áreas alteradas; V - incorporação ao processo produtivo de áreas abertas e abandonadas e manejo das áreas florestais;”
    • Decreto de 3 de julho de 2003 (institui Grupo Permanente de Trabalho Interministerial), texto compilado · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured July 12, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. Compiled Planalto text, with successive wordings interleaved and marked; it is not the original DOU publication. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: art. 1, item VI, original wording. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “VI - atuação integrada dos órgãos federais responsáveis pelo monitoramento e a fiscalização de atividades ilegais no Arco de Desmatamento;”

  39. 39. Among the lines of action of the 5th phase is resuming the operation of the Amazon Fund and supporting its Steering Committee and the BNDES in preparing new guidelines aligned with the PPCDAm.

  40. 40. According to the TCU audit report, the PPCDAm Executive Commission was initially under the coordination of the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office) of the Presidency of the Republic, and in 2013 the coordination passed to the Ministry of the Environment with Decree 7,957/2013.

  41. 41. In the Planalto's compilation, Decree No. 6,321/2007 appears as repealed by Decree No. 11,687 of 2023.

    • Decreto nº 6.321, de 21 de dezembro de 2007 · Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto) Official legal act
      Read from an archived copy (Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), captured May 19, 2026); original address: www.planalto.gov.br. The archive preserves the copy; the author is Presidency of the Republic, Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office), Subsecretariat for Legal Affairs (Planalto).
      Where: header (repeal note). Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “DECRETO Nº 6.321, DE 21 DE DEZEMBRO DE 2007. Revogado pelo Decreto nº 11.687, de 2023”

  42. 42. According to the 3rd phase document, of the 211 main activities of phase 2 of the PPCDAm, 107 were selected for monitoring and regrouped into 64 activities; of these, 39% were fully accomplished, 30% partially, 17% showed no progress, and 14% were assessed only qualitatively.

  43. 43. According to the same assessment, the land and territorial planning axis had 50% of its activities unaccomplished and 13% fully accomplished, while the monitoring and control axis had 38% fully accomplished and 38% partially accomplished.

  44. 44. According to the 5th phase document, during the first phase of the PPCDAm (2004 to 2008) a drop of 53% in the annual rates measured by Prodes was recorded; in the second (2009 to 2011) and third (2012 to 2015) phases there were additional reductions, and in 2012 the rate reached 4.5 thousand km², the lowest value in the historical series.

    • Plano de Ação para Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia Legal (PPCDAm), 5ª Fase (2023-2027) · Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Official record
      Where: p. 24 of the document (page 18 of the PDF). Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Durante a primeira fase do PPCDAm (2004-2008), foi possível registrar uma queda de 53% nas taxas anuais do desmatamento medidas pelo Prodes. Na segunda (2009-2011) e na terceira fases (2012-2015) do PPCDAm, foram obtidas reduções adicionais do desmatamento, que, em 2012, chegou a 4,5 mil km², o menor valor da série histórica.”

  45. 45. According to the Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation, from the start of the PPCDAm in 2004 to 2010 the average annual deforestation rate in the Amazon was 15.6 thousand km², and the annual rate fell from 27.4 thousand km² in 2004 to 6.5 thousand km² in 2010, the lowest level since annual measurements began in 1988.

  46. 46. In the same study, the authors conclude that agricultural prices have a causal effect on the deforestation rate in the Legal Amazon, with a different relationship for crops and for livestock; for this reason they control for these prices when estimating the effect of the policies.

  47. 47. The Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation concluded that there was an imbalance in the degree of success among the three axes of the PPCDAm, with the monitoring and control axis achieving greater success than the land and territorial planning axis and the axis for promoting sustainable productive activities.

  48. 48. According to the Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation, there was consensus among interviewees that, over the whole period of execution, the decisive actions for reducing deforestation were the improvement of command and control actions and the creation of new protected areas in threatened zones; for the 2007 to 2010 phase, command and control actions stood out, including the legal measures of late 2007.

  49. 49. Ruling 1758/2021 recommended that the National Council of the Legal Amazon and the Ministry of the Environment identify and implement measures to restore Ibama's operational capacity for environmental enforcement, given the sharp reduction in its staff.

  50. 50. The Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation noted that it was not clear whether the observed reduction in deforestation was lasting or circumstantial, that in 2011 there were signs of a resumption of deforestation, and that the lack of clarity in land tenure was one of the main unresolved bottlenecks in the Amazon.

  51. 51. The Ipea/Cepal/GIZ evaluation pointed out that the plan was still largely based on bringing together actions that were already being carried out by various agencies, without a clear logical and temporal sequence among them.

  52. 52. The authors of the study note that they still needed to identify the relative contribution of each policy, because the level of detail of the data did not allow the impact of individual measures to be assessed.

  53. 53. The PPCDAm 3rd phase document (2013) cited the 2012 version of the PUC-Rio study, with an estimate of 27 to 62 thousand km² of avoided deforestation between mid-2005 and mid-2009, or 32% to 52% of what would have been deforested without the policies; the revised 2015 version estimates about 73,000 km² (56%), in the original's notation.

  54. 54. According to the TCU audit report in Ruling 1758/2021, deforestation in the Legal Amazon reached its highest rate in 1995 and kept an upward curve until 2004, when it reached the second highest historical peak.

  55. 55. The preliminary report of the Interministerial Working Group (September 2003) recorded the INPE estimate of an increase from 18,166 km² between August 2000 and August 2001 to 25,476 km² between August 2001 and August 2002, an increase of around 40%.

  56. 56. According to the 5th phase document, after 2012 the plan gradually lost centrality on the government agenda, and in 2013 coordination of the interministerial group was transferred from the Casa Civil (Chief of Staff's Office) to the Ministry of the Environment; agendas that required interministerial coordination, such as infrastructure, rural credit, and the creation of conservation units, lost priority, while monitoring and control actions continued to be improved.

  57. 57. According to the TCU, in 2020 the PPCDAm was ended and succeeded by the National Plan for the Control of Illegal Deforestation and Recovery of Native Vegetation 2020 to 2023, which covers all biomes and is not specific to the Amazon; the new plan has five axes: zero tolerance for illegal deforestation, land tenure regularization, territorial planning, payment for environmental services, and bioeconomy.

  58. 58. According to the 5th phase document, in 2010 Ibama and ICMBio had 4,420 and 2,832 permanent staff, respectively, and in 2016 these numbers reached 3,585 and 1,792, a 25% reduction in the total for the two agencies.

  59. 59. According to the INPE methodological note, the annual PRODES rate estimates deforestation from August to July (for example, the rate for PRODES year 2020 estimates the deforestation that occurred between August 1, 2019 and July 31, 2020) and, in the Amazon, only polygons with an area greater than 6.25 hectares enter the rate.

    • Metodologia utilizada nos sistemas PRODES e DETER – 2ª edição · INPE Official statistics
      Where: section 3.3.3 (annual rate calculation phase). Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Por exemplo, a taxa calculada para o ano PRODES 2020 estima o desmatamento ocorrido entre 01/08/2019 e 31/07/2020. Esse período é chamado ano PRODES ou ano-calendário do desmatamento.”
    • Metodologia utilizada nos sistemas PRODES e DETER – 2ª edição · INPE Official statistics
      Where: section 3.3.3. Accessed October 14, 2026.
      “Para a Amazônia, visando manter a harmonia dos dados em toda a série histórica, somente são publicados e considerados no cálculo da taxa os polígonos com área superior a 6,25 hectares.”

Found an error? Report a correction.