Abstract

From 2004 to 2014, deforestation dropped 80% in the Brazilian Amazon, mainly due to the implementation of the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm). Among the diverse instruments that composed PPCDAm’s policy basket, monitoring and control were the best-performing ones. The agency responsible for inspection operations at the federal level is the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Resources (Ibama). Drawing on 44 semi-structured interviews with different actors, this paper analyzes the transformations undergone by Ibama’s organizational structure and culture during the implementation process of PPCDAm. Its main finding is to shed light on the genesis of the “doctrine of deterrence”, a set of guidelines that oriented Ibama’s identity and actions, allowing it to rise to the challenge imposed by the PPCDAm.

Keywords

Brazilian Amazon deforestation prevention and control environmental law and policy Clausewitzian studies doctrine of deterrence