Ecosystem Services and Incentive Mechanisms for Environmental Preservation in Brazil

The evidence that environmental imbalances pose a serious and imminent threat to the future of mankind has prompted concrete actions in the environment. However, in Brazil, the challenge is to integrate the various regulations, public policies, new opportunities, and incentive mechanisms for forest protection and restoration. This paper discusses specific forms of action in Brazilian systems of Law, Economics and Politics that can influence environmental issues. It systemically presents economic instruments and analyzes the adoption of programs of Payment for Environmental Services to encourage voluntary practices of environmental protection. We suggest a mandatory strengthening of local power to increase the effectiveness of environmental legislation. The local sphere relates more closely with the more tangible reality and, therefore, is the closest instance of political decision-making that most directly affects people’s lives. It is also where the exercise of citizenship is more fruitful and where popular participation is more intense. We assume that sustainable development is unachievable without governance because it promotes common goals through collective action and requires structural changes in the dominant institutions.