03222naa a2200337 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001902400530006010000220011324501430013526000090027852021850028765000250247265000230249765000220252065300280254265300240257065300110259465300210260565300260262665300190265265300250267165300180269670000210271470000220273570000190275770000200277670000170279670000250281377300460283820081032016-02-15       2015    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d7 adx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.08.0032DOI1 aGARRASTAZU, M. C.  aCarbon sequestration and riparian zonesbassessing the impacts of changing regulatory practices in Southern Brazil.h[electronic resource]  c2015  aDespite the consensus that riparian zones are important for the conservation of biological diversity andmany other ecosystem services, there are no consistent regulations for how, or if, riparian areas shouldbe used and the size of buffer zones required. Recently, controversial revisions to the Forest Code inBrazil have been implemented which include a reduction in the width of protected riparian buffer zonesrequired along rivers. In order to model the impact of legislative changes on ecosystem services, weused the integrated valuation of environmental services and tradeoffs (InVEST) tool to assess a 30,000 hawatershed in southern Brazil and carbon sequestration as an indicator for ecosystem services. The resultsdemonstrate that the adoption of improved agriculture practices, development of secondary forests andespecially the conversion of land into more restrictive types of land-use has a significant and positiveimpact on the levels of carbon sequestered. On the other hand, the easing of riparian zone requirementsshows an important potential loss in carbon sequestration. More importantly, reducing the size of thebuffer zone might result in land-conversion into agriculture or pasture, impacting both carbon seques-tration and other ecosystem services. However, the easing of restrictions on riparian areas under therevised Forest Code might be overshadowed by changes to Legal Forest Reserve provisions which couldhave a much greater impact on carbon sequestration. Despite the restrictions imposed by various piecesof legislation, the loss of ecosystem services due to a reduction in the protected riparian area, as well aspossible land conversion due to changes in Legal Forest Reserves, are possible unless efforts involvingnarrowing the gap between research and policy, effective law enforcement, and implementing attrac-tive payment for ecosystem services programs, are put in place. We believe that introducing incentivesto farmers to maintain the protection of riparian areas by implementing agroforestry systems, such aserva-mate (Ilex paraguariensis), would be beneficial socioeconomically and ecologically and should beintegrated into the Forest Code.  acarbon sequestration  aecosystem services  aforest management  aAgricultural incentives  aIncentivo agrícola  aInVEST  aManejo florestal  aPrática regulatória  aRiparian zones  aSequestro de carbono  aZona ripária1 aMENDONÇA, S. D.1 aHOROKOSKIA, T. T.1 aCARDOSO, D. J.1 aROSOT, M. A. D.1 aNIMMO, E. R.1 aLACERDA, A. E. B. de  tLand Use Policygv. 42, p. 329-339, 2015.