USING INDICATORS BASED ON BRAZILIAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS FOR ANALYSIS OF FAMILY FARMS IN THE AMAZON REGION

Abstract

There is an ongoing discussion about the effects of the new Brazilian forestry code (BFC) \u2013 Federal Law # 12.651 (BRASIL, 2012) \u2013 on the adequacy of small family farms, in terms of environmental degradation and recovery of forestry areas or regarding the possibilities of sustainable management of Permanent Preservation (PPA) or Legal Reserve (RL) areas. The aim of this work was to select and apply environmental evaluation indicators to analyze the environmental performance of small family farms, considering alternatives that the farmers should follow to comply with the laws and not to commit environmental crimes, in accordance with the Brazilian environmental legislation. We established environmental evaluation indicators taken from Brazilian environmental law parameters, which were tested in family farms with organic (SPO) or conventional (SPC) management systems. The organic family farms presented better results in terms of environmental evaluation indicators, either on APP or on RL areas Preservationist management was predominat on LR and on APP, in organic and in conventional production systems, and there were only a few occurrences of agroforestry systems or non-timber forest managements. The environmental evaluation indicators designed from aspects of Brazilian environmental law showed to be an efficient, practical and inexpensive tool to help technicians and farmers to identify positive situations of compliance to Brazilian environmental laws.Os efeitos do novo C\uf3digo Florestal Brasileiro (CFB) - Lei Federal n. 12.651 (BRASIL, 2012) - ainda est\ue3o sendo avaliados e discutidos quanto \ue0 adequa\ue7\ue3o de propriedades rurais \ue0 legisla\ue7\ue3o ambiental, tanto nas quest\uf5es de recupera\ue7\ue3o de \ue1reas degradadas quanto em rela\ue7\ue3o \ue0s possibilidades de uso sustent\ue1vel das \ue1reas de preserva\ue7\ue3o permanente (APP) e de Reserva Legal (RL). O objetivo do trabalho foi construir e aplicar indicadores ambientais de avalia\ue7\ue3o para verificar o desempenho ambiental de propriedades rurais familiares, considerando alternativas que o produtor deve seguir para se adequar \ue0s legisla\ue7\uf5es ambientais e, tamb\ue9m, verificando as condutas favor\ue1veis ao n\ue3o cometimento de infra\ue7\uf5es ou crimes ambientais. Foram estabelecidos indicadores ambientais de avalia\ue7\ue3o propostos a partir de par\ue2metros da legisla\ue7\ue3o, os quais foram utilizados na an\ue1lise de propriedades rurais conduzidas sob sistemas de produ\ue7\ue3o org\ue2nica (SPO) ou convencional (SPC). As propriedades rurais conduzidas em SPO apresentaram melhores resultados quanto aos indicadores ambientais de avalia\ue7\ue3o tanto das \ue1reas de RL quanto das APPs, predominando o car\ue1ter essencialmente preservacionista nas propriedades rurais. Houve baixa ocorr\ueancia de casos de manejo agroflorestal ou agroextrativismo tanto nas \ue1reas de RL quanto de APP das propriedades rurais avaliadas nos dois sistemas de produ\ue7\ue3o. Os indicadores ambientais constru\ueddos a partir da legisla\ue7\ue3o ambiental demonstraram ser uma ferramenta eficiente, pr\ue1tica e de baixo custo, para os t\ue9cnicos e agricultores assim como na identifica\ue7\ue3o de situa\ue7\uf5es positivas de manejo em rela\ue7\ue3o \ue0 adequa\ue7\ue3o \ue0s leis ambientais