Brazil Faces Efforts to Weaken Deforestation Monitoring

In Brazil, several initiatives are challenging the use of remote sensing to monitor and combat deforestation. Over the last few years, Brazilian environmental agencies have increasingly used satellite imagery for law enforcement. Courts and prosecutors now accept this imagery as valid evidence, and financial institutions are using it to verify the environmental compliance of loan applicants.

This technology allows for quicker, more effective environmental enforcement in a country with a vast territory and limited resources. However, recent actions are attempting to undermine these tools, including legal challenges against organizations like MapBiomas, which provides deforestation alerts.

The Supreme Federal Court is also considering suspending regulations requiring financial institutions to verify land has not been deforested since 2019 before granting rural credit. Multiple legislative proposals seek to eliminate these requirements, citing imprecision in satellite imagery. These efforts risk eroding gains made in reducing illegal deforestation in recent years, and the debate continues.