摘要：Brazilian environmental legislation has a basis of elaboration with high solidity; however, it still presents limitations, demanding from society and institutions, actions that they, often, are not able to fulfill. The objective of the work was to generate a document that provides a better understanding of the Brazilian environmental legislation, specifically to the Forest Codes of 1965 (Law n. 4.771 / 65) and 2012 (Law n ° 12.651 / 12). Several changes were made, mainly in relation to the regimes of protection of areas of permanent preservation (APP) and legal reserve (RL). Among them, the current code defines the initial measures that the rural producer must take to conform to the legislation, such as the registration in the Rural Environmental Cadastre (CAR). With the approval of the new code, there is a need for continuous work in the federal (regulations and updates), state and municipal (creation and regulation of the respective forest codes). It is also necessary to implement the incentive mechanisms for preservation provided in the current code, as well as an effective action of professionals with full knowledge of the Forest Code.
