THE DEGENERATION OF THE FEDERAL LAND REGULARIZATION POLICY IN THE AMAZON

Abstract

This is a paper on Agrarian and Environmental Law and aims to understand if the land regularization policy in the Amazon has been able to achieve its purpose of fulfilling the social function of property. The work, first, addresses the entire discipline of federal land regularization, since the 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution. Then, it faces the effects of this policy in practice, from a sample cut in the region of the Jamanxim Valley, in the State of Pará. In this context, it analyses the scenario of federal lands occupation, the numbers concerning who tend to be the effective recipients the policy, the dimension of the areas that can be regularized, the dynamics of deforestation, the prices paid for the lands and the issue of legal certainty concerning the “titles” issued. The results found show that land regularization has fostered land reconcentration and deforestation, since it is aimed, in practice, at serving, mostly, large and medium-sized properties, as well as the permanent expectation of regularization encourages the continuity of land grab. It concludes, therefore, that the land regularization policy in the Amazon has degenerated to the point of serving the opposite of the social function of property, encouraging land grabbing, environmental degradation and the conflicts concerning to them.

Keywords
Land Regularization; Amazon; social function of property; land grab; deforestation