Regularizing Undesignated Public Forests in the Brazilian Amazon for Conservation: Implications for Land Tenure Security

Abstract

56.5 million hectares of the Brazilian Amazon are Undesignated Public Forests (UPFs), forestlands most susceptible to illicit activities due to the ambiguity surrounding their intended land use and responsible government institutions. Recently, Brazil has viewed the regularization of UPFs—allocating a specific land tenure category and subsequent government action—as a critical measure for environmental conservation. While the crucial role of local communities in land regularization for conservation is increasingly recognized, the communities inhabiting UPFs are particularly vulnerable to violent land conflicts. Therefore, this thesis examined the federal government’s approach to the regularization of UPFs and its impact on land tenure security for local communities in southern Amazonas, an often overlooked factor. Land tenure security involves the landholder’s expectation that their land claims will be recognized and protected against competing claims. This thesis used the lens of institutional pluralism to analyze how statutory and customary tenure systems structure the relationship between land and landholder, each influencing different dimensions of land tenure security: perceived, de facto, and de jure security. A qualitative discourse analysis of legislation on public forestlands (Law No. 11.284/2006 and Decree No. 11.688/2023) and fifteen semi-structured interviews with local leaderships were conducted. The analysis showed that the legal framework followed by the federal government did not align with the social practices of local communities. This thesis concluded that focusing solely on de jure security in land regularization proved ineffective in ensuring land tenure security for local communities in the south of Amazonas, as a pervasive sense of insecurity persists regardless of a land tenure category.