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The Public Prosecutor’s Office’s experience using Global Forest Watch to monitor and deter deforestation in the Cerrado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2024

Claudio Angelo Correa Gonzaga ,
José Guilherme Roquette Open the ORCID record for José Guilherme Roquette [Opens in a new window] ,
Fabio Angeoletto Open the ORCID record for Fabio Angeoletto [Opens in a new window] ,
Vinicius De Freitas Silgueiro ,
Luis Otávio Bau Macedo ,
Ana Paula Valdiones  and
Normandes Matos da Silva
Claudio Angelo Correa Gonzaga
Affiliation:
Ministério Público de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá-MT, CEP 78790-000, Brazil
José Guilherme Roquette*
Affiliation:
Ministério Público de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá-MT, CEP 78790-000, Brazil
Fabio Angeoletto
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Rondonópolis, Rodovia Rondonópolis/Guiratinga, S/N, Km 06, Rondonópolis, MT, CEP 78735-901, Brazil
Vinicius De Freitas Silgueiro
Affiliation:
Instituto Centro de Vida, Rua Estevão de Mendonça 1770, Quilombo, Cuiabá-MT, CEP 78043-580, Brazil
Luis Otávio Bau Macedo
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Rondonópolis, Rodovia Rondonópolis/Guiratinga, S/N, Km 06, Rondonópolis, MT, CEP 78735-901, Brazil
Ana Paula Valdiones
Affiliation:
Instituto Centro de Vida, Rua Estevão de Mendonça 1770, Quilombo, Cuiabá-MT, CEP 78043-580, Brazil
Normandes Matos da Silva
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Rondonópolis, Rodovia Rondonópolis/Guiratinga, S/N, Km 06, Rondonópolis, MT, CEP 78735-901, Brazil
*
Corresponding author: José Guilherme Roquette; Email: guilhermeroquette@yahoo.com.br
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Summary

The Cerrado biome is a global biodiversity hotspot, and more than half of its area has been devastated in recent decades. Nevertheless, environmental enforcement agencies have a low capacity for monitoring and curbing illegal deforestation and fires. In this context, the local unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Itiquira, Mato Grosso, has been experimenting since mid-2018 with the Global Forest Watch platform to detect illegal deforestation at its onset and notify landowners by electronic means (WhatsApp, email, etc.). With this remote inspection there has been a significant increase in the number of infraction notices, criminal actions, agreements for civil reparation of damage and public civil suits. By seeking to identify illegal deforestation in progress (in flagrant situations), the Public Prosecutor’s Office has prevented such events from turning into major deforestation. Preliminary data indicate that the practice of monitoring and notifications by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and environmental control agencies has increased law enforcement on deforestation and fires in that municipality and halted infractions at their inception. The challenge now is to determine the extent to which this method can be replicated in broader territories and other biomes such as Amazonia and Pantanal.

Keywords

Environmental controlenvironmental law enforcementillegal deforestationremote sensing

Information

Type
Report
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , September 2024 , pp. 236 - 241
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Foundation for Environmental Conservation

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