Brazil’s legal and policy framework for combating Amazon deforestation

• Systematically evaluates Brazil’s legal and policy frameworks for combating Amazon deforestation. • Identifies key flaws in the current governance framework in Brazil. • Provides recommendations to strengthen legal and policy measures to combat deforestation As Brazil hosts over 60% of the Amazon forest, its domestic legal and policy frameworks significantly influence the governance of the region. This study systematically examines Brazil's federal legal and policy systems aimed at combating Amazon deforestation, encompassing constitutional provisions, environmental laws, forest legislation, and key policies such as the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA) and the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm). Analyzed through the lenses of environmental philosophy, property rights jurisprudence, and polycentric governance theory, the study identifies critical flaws in the current governance framework: an anthropocentric value orientation, leniency toward illegal deforestation, long-standing land tenure insecurity, high policy volatility, and institutional conflicts among governance agencies. Based on these findings, the article proposes recommendations to enhance Brazil’s deforestation-combating efforts, including transcending anthropocentric stance, intensifying anti-deforestation laws and policies, improving land tenure governance, and constructing a polycentric governance system that integrates domestic and international actors. These measures aim to balance ecological protection and sustainable development in the Amazon region.