Question

State any three policies of the Brazilian government that led to the over exploitation of Amazonian rainforests.

Answer 1

1. State-Sponsored Infrastructure Expansion: During the 1970s military dictatorship, the government launched massive colonization programs under the strategic motto “Integrar para nao entregar” (integrate so as not to hand it over). This led to the construction of mega-highways like the Trans-Amazonian Highway, which cut deep into the dense forest, providing loggers, ranchers, and land speculators unprecedented physical access to untouched biomes.
2. Subsidised Tax Incentives for Cattle Ranching: Federal development agencies (such as SUDAM) granted extensive tax breaks, cheap credit lines, and hefty fiscal subsidies to corporate investors and farming sectors willing to establish large livestock operations in the Amazon basin. This artificially inflated the financial returns of cattle ranching, making large-scale “slash-and-burn” clearing the dominant economic driver of forest loss.
3. Land-Titling Based on Deforestation (“Productive Use”): Agrarian reform and colonisation policies historically required settlers to clear the rainforest to legally prove “productive use” of the land. Under rules managed by bodies like the National Institute for Colonisation and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), clearing trees was viewed as an improvement to the land property, encouraging massive, legal land-grabbing and speculative deforestation to secure official land titles.