Orange Sun

Environmental registry aims to increase the monitoring of Brazilian forests.

Aiming to increase the control and monitoring of Brazilian forests and other vegetation, farmers and growers all over Brazil will have until December 31st, 2017, to register in the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR, in Portuguese). Created by Federal Law 12,651/12, CAR is an electronic registration, mandatory to all private rural properties, creating a strategic database for control, monitoring and combating deforestation and degradation of other native vegetation in Brazil, as well as environmental and economic planning in rural regions. According to data from the Brazilian Ministry of Environment, in the whole country, the registering area is of around 397.8 million hectares, 96.4% of this total has already been registered. In the state of São Paulo, where is the main orange producer region in the country, the registration was done in 100% of the registering area, estimated in 16.9 million hectares.

As from 2017, those who haven’t been registered in CAR will have their line of credit suspended. But even before the deadline, there’s already some losses to those who haven’t regularize their situation. That is because there are banks and companies which are giving benefits to those updated to the regulation. “Caixa Econômica Federal, the Federal Savings Bank, has already made CAR a mandatory item in the risk analysis”, says the director-general of the Brazilian Forest Service, an agency linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Environment, Mr. Raimundo Deusdará Filho.

According to the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban, in Portuguese), the financial institutions are not yet blocking credit for those not in CAR, but the registration is an “extra point” to those seeking credit. “The insurance companies are lowering the haircut to those registered in CAR. If you don’t have CAR, you will pay a little more on insurance. These market mechanisms, even more that the regulatory State, will make CAR happen”, guarantees Mr. Deusdará.

The registration is free and mandatory to all rural properties. All process is made through an online program and it’s only necessary that the owner has all his documents in order to finish their registration. “The tool was developed so that everyone can fill out their information by themselves. But in São Paulo, there are some City Halls and vocational-technical schools offering available technicians to help anyone who needs it”, explains Mr. Deusdará.

For more information on CAR, in Portuguese, access the website: http://www.florestal.gov.br/cadastro-ambiental-rural/numeros-do-cadastro-ambiental-rural