New contours of the native vegetation protection law of 2012

Abstract

The conservation of natural resources within rural properties is a constitutional obligation. Among the social function criteria required for the exploitation of rural properties, besides the rational use and respect of working conditions, there is a need to ensure environmental protection. The current guidelines regarding the exploration and the environmental adequacy of the rural property are in the Native Vegetation Protection Law (NVPL – Law no. 12,651/2012) also known as Forest Code of 2012. This study aims to analyze different aspects of the Brazilian forestry legislation, with emphasis on the main points of the new legislation regarding the use and conservation of rural properties, highlighting the Rural Environmental Registry replacing the old model of Legal Reserve Registration. It is an update of the article “Ambient protection areas inside rural properties: the APP and RL case” published by Floram in 2011.