Large-scale land governance and environmental monitoring are huge challenges for tropical countries with significant forest cover. In this discussion paper, we analyzed the conditions and achievements of the implementation of the Brazilian Rural Environmental Registry (CAR). CAR was an important breakthrough of the Native Vegetation Protection Law for environmental monitoring in Brazil.

Humans rely on healthy forests to supply energy, building materials, and food and to provide services such as storing carbon, hosting biodiversity, and regulating climate. Defining forest health integrates utilitarian and ecosystem measures of forest condition and...