Institutional Resilience and Enforcement Dynamics in the Brazilian Amazon: A Review of IBAMA’s Trajectory and Global Lessons for Forest Governance

This journal examines the dynamics of institutional resilience and environmental law enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon through the experience of IBAMA, a federal agency that plays a crucial role in controlling deforestation. Starting from the issue of the gap between advanced monitoring technology and weak enforcement in the field, this study uses a qualitative literature review of academic literature and policy reports from the period 2020–2026. The main findings indicate that satellites and deforestation data are important, but insufficient without agency autonomy, sanction credibility, digital land registries, and the integration of environmental data with the financial sector. Practices such as remote embargoes, violator lists, and the destruction of illegal assets are considered relevant as lessons for the governance of other tropical forests, including efforts to strengthen enforcement, transparency, and environmental accountability.