The 2012 Brazilian Forest Code governs the fate of forests and savannas on Brazil's 394 Mha of privately owned lands. The government claims that a new national land registry (SICAR), introduced under the revised law, could end illegal deforestation by greatly reducing the cost of monitoring, enforcement, and compliance. This study evaluates that potential, using data from state-level land registries (CAR) in Pará and Mato Grosso that were precursors of SICAR. Using geospatial analyses and stakeholder interviews, we quantify the impact of CAR on deforestation and forest restoration, investigating how landowners adjust their behaviors over time. Our results indicate rapid adoption of CAR, with registered properties covering a total of 57 Mha by 2013. This suggests that the financial incentives to join CAR currently exceed the costs. Registered properties initially showed lower deforestation rates than unregistered ones, but these differences varied by property size and diminished over time. Moreover, only 6% of registered producers reported taking steps to restore illegally cleared areas on their properties. Our results suggest that, from the landowner's perspective, full compliance with the Forest Code offers few economic benefits. Achieving zero illegal deforestation in this context would require the private sector to include full compliance as a market criterion, while state and federal governments develop SICAR as a de facto enforcement mechanism. These results are relevant to other tropical countries and underscore the importance of developing a policy mix that creates lasting incentives for sustainable land-use practices.deforestation | Forest Code | tropical forests | governance | Amazon

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The native vegetation on private land is considered a key component in the supply of ecosystem services, so the Forest Code establishes the Legal Reserve. While some studies have showed that non-compliance is common, so far no study has analyzed the willingness of producers to settle this liability. This study aimed to investigate in a exploratory ways the stated preferences and the motivating factors of producers in the settlement of liabilities and use of Legal Reserve surpluses. With this purpose this study has collected primary data through structured face-to-face interviews with 77 producers in 17 municipalities in the states of Pará and Mato Grosso. The results showed four available classes of producers in regulation (positive, inaccurate, inaccurate and negative) and suggest that age, income and the type of agricultural activity are important factors in the decision-making process of farmers in relation to environmental regularization of their legal reserves.