Does environmental crime pay? Analysis of the effectiveness of enforcement in three national forests in the state of Rondônia, Brazil

Abstract

We assessed the possibility of changing individuals' behavior and estimated the value of deterrence related to environmental infractions recorded in the National Forests of Bom Futuro, Jacundá and Jamari, in Rondônia, Brazil, between 2010 and 2020.  The indicators suggest a low effectiveness of enforcement activity in reducing deforestation in the Amazon. Ineffectiveness was also demonstrated in relation to the low execution of the stages of the administrative process in the phases of: conciliation, judgment, payment of fines and enforcement of administrative sanctions. Other factors that may have contributed to this picture are: a) market factors, such as agricultural commodity prices; b) public policies that encouraged land distribution, opening of highways, among other incentives for the occupation of the Amazon; c) deficit structure of human and financial resources in the sectors responsible for the administrative sanctioning process; and d) changes in the sanctioning rite, through Federal Decree No. 9. 760/2019, which created the Environmental Conciliation Centers, an unnecessary step without an adequate structure to speed up the processes, among other factors, which caused further delay in the analysis and judgment of the violation reports.