Conservation of the Atlantic Forest in the Anthropocene: legal setbacks in Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

The Atlantic Forest biome is the fifth most threatened in the world, and in Brazil, the Federal Constitution of 1988, when the New Forest Code of 1965 was in force, declared it a National Heritage Site. Then, the biome received specific regulatory protection, conditioning its use to fulfill criteria that ensure its conservation. The state of Santa Catarina has its territory fully inserted in the Atlantic Forest, where forest ecosystems are predominant, represented by Dense Ombrophylous Forest, Mixed Ombrophylous Forest, Seasonal Deciduous Forest, high-altitude grasslands, and Coastal Vegetation. Threats to the biome were intensified with the publication of the MMA Dispatch No. 4.410/2020, which forced all its agencies and entities to authorize economic activities in Permanent Preservation Areas (PPA), which were irregularly damaged until 2008, and not from 1990 onwards, as had been the case in the Atlantic Forest Law. Although it was later revoked, the environmental agency in Santa Catarina maintained the guidelines set out in the terms of the 2020 MMA dispatch. This article analyzes the effects and consequences of this institutional change on the state's conservation of the Atlantic Forest. Data were obtained through research on documentary sources and legislation collected between January and July 2021. The timeframe for analysis begins in 1965 with the publication of the New Forest Code and continues until June 2021. The collected data were analyzed based on four “clarity of corridors” a term used to address political actions taken based on scientific evidence. The disregard for the timeframe (1990 - 2008) for the restoration of PPAs in Santa Catarina is characterized as a setback, bearing in mind the importance of conserving coastal zones to prevent disasters and other effects of climate change, such as the viability of economies in the Anthropocene.