BVRio is a member of the Brazilian Forest Code Observatory (OCF), a network formed by 30 institutions that monitors and supports the implementation of the Brazilian Native Vegetation Protection Law.
In partnership with the OCF, we developed the Forest Code Portal, a tool linked to OCF, created to inform, reflect, promote transparency and contribute to monitoring the implementation of the Brazilian Forest Code.
The development of theoretical concepts, the regulatory basis, and the engagement of actors are necessary, but alone do not create sufficient conditions for market mechanisms to become a real instrument for implementing public environmental policies.
So, for the past decade, BVRio has worked to promote effective means of trading environmental assets, as a way of demonstrating the viability of the concepts.
The Brazilian Forest Code establishes obligations related to the conservation of forest areas, including the maintenance of the Legal Reserve, forest replacement obligations and participation in the Rural Environmental Registry (“CAR” – a national GIS of all farms in Brazil).
Legal Reserve, is an obligation created by the Forest Code where farmers are required to maintain a minimum area of native vegetation within their rural properties. Legal Reserve obligations can vary between 20% and 80% of the property, depending on the biome and the region where the property is located.
The law also establishes the obligation of Forest Replacement, that is, it requires that the extraction of forests from certain places, should be compensated by the establishment of new forests in other places.
