The Brazilian Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), set by Law No. 12.651/2012, is a strategic instrument for creating and integrating environmental information on rural premises (farms and ranches) in Brazil. It is an essential database for ecological and economic planning, for controlling, monitoring, and verifying environmental compliance of rural premises in the country. It is also a significant source of information for preventing and fighting deforestation nationally.
Registration in CAR is mandatory for all rural premises and is completely aligned with the Forest Code guidelines. Its implementation, combined with instruments such as the Environmental Regularization Programs (PRAs) and the Environmental Reserve Quotas (CRAs), is a crucial step towards integrating agricultural and environmental policies in the country.
The Forest Code itself states the centrality of agricultural activities in national development, highlighting its role in food security and economic growth. The legislation also reaffirms the significance of forests and native vegetation as essential factors for sustainability, quality of life, and Brazil’s competitiveness in the globalized food and bioenergy markets.
In this context, CAR has been consolidated as an organizing tool for promoting reliable, environmentally sustainable agribusiness. Through the Rural Environmental Registration System (SICAR), implemented at the federal level, the information stated in CAR is integrated into a single platform that gathers data throughout the country. The system allows access to detailed information on Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs), Legal Reserves (RLs), and land use, thus adding to environmental monitoring by relevant agencies and to the rural producers’ accurate understanding of the ecological situation of their premises.
However, analyzing the information stated in CAR is currently one of the main challenges for its effective strengthening. With more than 7 million registrations, state agencies face a significant amount of technical work, which requires the institutional backing of the Federal Units and the increasing use of automated analysis tools.
Efficient communication with rural producers and providing technical support to review the information stated are also key aspects. Initiatives such as the RetifiCAR Program, aimed at strengthening the CNA System’s role in supporting CAR’s adjustments, have played a critical role in this process. The program helps oversee the analyses and, when necessary, makes the corrections demanded by environmental agencies.
Consolidating CAR and complying with the PRAs are real advances in enforcing the Forest Code. The possibility of compensating for a Legal Reserve through CRAs, combined with the regularization of environmental liabilities, opens prospects for the agricultural sector, allowing greater legal certainty and ecological valorization of rural premises, and recognition of the importance of sustainable rural production in the country. Compliance with the legislation strengthens the image of Brazilian agribusiness among consumers and international markets, both increasingly attentive to sustainability requirements.
Therefore, environmental regulation and forest assets valuation are essential to integrating the agricultural and ecological agendas. The qualification and interoperability of CAR information, when linked to other government systems, have the potential to boost sustainable rural development, promote added value, increase traceability, and ensure greater transparency throughout the production chain.