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Abstract
This paper aims to analyze the economic impact of the legal reserve on the
gross margin of different types of farms located in the watershed of the Oriçanga River
– in São Paulo state, Brazil. In order to reach such purpose, a typology of farmers
was elaborated for the watershed. Two farmer types were selected for a detailed study:
small farmers with low technology and citrus producers. The productive structure
of both types was modeled through the recursive programming method, comprising
the period between 2002/03 and 2008/09. The current farm system adopted by each
type was confronted with two scenarios for legal reserve compensation: I) through
the reallocation of productive areas within the farms and sustainable management of
natural vegetation recovery in order to explore the production of timber; II) through
the spontaneous growth of natural vegetation. Results highlight the importance of
policies aimed to obtain a more equitable distribution of environmental conservation
costs in the society, as well as the importance of locational adjustments of the legal
reserves, in order to reach a better equilibrium between the preservation of biodiversity
and the opportunity cost of land.