METHODOLOGICAL NOTE ON THE USE OF MAPBIOMAS ALERTA DATA IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR AND RURAL CREDIT ANALYSIS
The MapBiomas Alerta initiative makes deforestation alerts from multiple sources (such as DETER/INPE, GFW, SAD, etc.) available through a free and publicly accessible platform. These alerts are verified, validated, and spatially cross-referenced with government territorial databases (SICAR/SFB, SIGEF/INCRA, IBAMA, ICMBio, etc.). Details on the methodology are available at: https://alerta.mapbiomas.org/metodologia.
It is important to emphasize that MapBiomas Alerta publishes any and all loss of native vegetation, without making any assessment of the legality, responsibility, and/or restrictions associated with the alerts validated and published on the MapBiomas Alerta platform. Therefore, users interested in using the information contained in the deforestation reports — including financial institutions — are responsible for conducting such assessments based on documents and information obtained from the relevant parties or competent public authorities.
The objective of MapBiomas Alerta is to verify, validate, refine, and analyze, using high-spatial-resolution satellite imagery, each deforestation alert detected by automated systems and to provide detailed reports with territorial cross-references in a public, transparent, and free-of-charge manner. To qualify the alerts, MapBiomas uses and consults embargo databases maintained by environmental authorities, as well as other public databases related to vegetation suppression authorizations (ASV), alternative land-use authorizations (UAS), and other databases containing records of environmental violations or enforcement actions carried out and made available by the competent public authorities. The MapBiomas Alerta initiative is continuously improved and updated so that information used to qualify alerts — such as SIGEF property boundaries, CAR properties, Conservation Unit boundaries, vegetation suppression or alternative land-use authorizations, embargoes and releases of embargoes, enforcement actions, etc. — is as up to date and complete as possible. We always provide the source, month, and year in which these databases were consulted so that users, when necessary, can use the most up-to-date official information in their analyses and decision-making processes.
The MapBiomas Alerta platform reports any and all loss of native vegetation validated using high-resolution satellite imagery, without assessing the legality or responsibility associated with the deforestation. When a vegetation suppression authorization (ASV) or alternative land-use authorization (UAS) has been registered and published in SINAFLOR (IBAMA) and corresponds to the area of the alert, or when such information has been voluntarily added to the platform by a user, this information remains publicly available in the respective alert report for any user who accesses it.
Any form of regularization, acquisition of authorizations, terms of commitment, or equivalent measures must be addressed with the competent government authority and do not result in the removal or cancellation of an alert from the MapBiomas Alerta platform. An alert will only be canceled if it is technically demonstrated that no loss and/or removal of native vegetation occurred.
It should be emphasized that, when conducting credit analysis, financial institutions are advised to request from the client documentation demonstrating the legal status of the deforestation and to internally verify the procedures adopted by their institution for evaluating financing applications in such situations.
Without prejudice to the exclusive responsibility of the financial institution providing rural credit to request and assess the documents related to the deforestation alert, we suggest the following precautions when conducting credit analysis:
- Define a minimum overlap area with the property, taking into account the specific characteristics of each region and biome. This can help prevent, for example, deforestation occurring on a neighboring property from affecting a property's access to credit due to small positional discrepancies that may exist between different spatial databases. The Alert Report in Rural Property provides both the total deforested area, in hectares, and the area of deforestation located within the property. This information can be used to calculate the percentage of the alert that occurred within the property.
- Do not consider alerts associated with natural causes as grounds for credit restrictions, including areas where native vegetation was lost due to landslides or flooding.
- Adopt specific procedures for analyzing settlements and collective CARs (PCTs) to prevent deforestation occurring on individual plots from affecting the access to credit of the entire community.
Access the Guide to Good Practices for Applying MapBiomas Alerta Data [here]
For further information, please contact us at: suporte.alerta@mapbiomas.org