Changing Amazon deforestation patterns: urgent need to restore command and control policies and market interventions

Abstract

Abstract Market and public policies govern deforestation trends and patterns globally. Here I show that in the Brazilian Amazon, the largest tropical forest in the world, the size of deforestation polygons - the individual portions of cleared forest patches - has significantly increased in response to the current environmental governance. The average size of deforestation polygons in the current government is 61% greater than in the 10 previous years when environmental policies and programs were maintained. As a result, very large polygons (> 100 ha) are now dominating deforestation, suggesting a remarkable change in deforestation patterns and a new wave of destruction of the Amazon forest. To control increasing deforestation trends and changing patterns, command and control policies need to be strengthened along with interventions in the supply chain of Amazon commodities and sustainable development incentives, ensuring a transition to an environmentally sustainable economy.