The Forest Code in Brazil is a piece of legislation on land management that legally requires that landowners in the Brazilian Amazon should permanently maintain a proportion of the land (80%) as forest. It was passed in 1965 but with little implementation until it was revised in 2012. Since then new legal instruments have been introduced which should lead to better environmental management and land use planning in Brazil including the reforestation, restoration or offset of historically illegally deforested areas.

Produced by WWF-Brazil, this guide provides an overview of the updated Forest Code in Brazil and gives recommendations for decision makers in supply chain companies, financial institutions and Governments on how to take action to implement and ensure compliance to the Forest Code. It is particularly important for those in the supply chain who promote, regulate, produce, consume, export or import Brazilian agricultural and forest commodities.

Brazils new forest Code: guide 2016 PDF

WWF Guide to the Forest Code:

With the Forest Code serving as a first step towards fully legal and responsible agricultural production, cattle ranching and forestry production in Brazil it is important for companies sourcing from Brazil to ensure compliance with it. WWF has produced a new guide providing information on the Forest Code law, and outlining some recommendations to ensure effective implementation of the law. It also highlights precisely why we need to go even further to protect forests in Brazil, particularly if we are to achieve zero net deforestation and forest degradation (ZNDD) by 2020.

TheForest Code is the law that regulates land management and the protection of native vegetation on Brazilian properties. It came into force in 2012 and was revised in 2014 to include new regulations  and new legal instruments for implementation.

Our guide to the code:

• Explains the main components of the law, with a supplement that explains the law in more detail, for example examining how compensation for incompliance can work, and how it can benefit biodiversity.

• Gives short case studies on how the sugarcane, beef, pulp and paper, soybean industries might implement the code (pages 32-35)
• Provides recommendations for the international community, buyers and producers, financiers, and public sector