This study sought to evaluate the environmental awareness of small rural producers in the municipality of Divinópolis, MG, Brazil, regarding Legal Reserves – LR and Permanent Preservation Areas – PPA, referencing the state’s current forest legislation, known as the Forest Code of Minas Gerais (Law 20.922/2013). For this purpose, a qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews, with the sample defined by the saturation criterion, and issues considered using Bardin content analysis. The results showed that, in general, rural landowners define both evaluated terms incorrectly and/or incompletely. All of them reported not having knowledge of the environmental legislation and the majority declared not having been informed about the question and presented no record of LR notarization or registration at the Rural Environmental Registry - RER. This finding showed the need for the involvement of public and social institutions, and companies operating in the region to create guidance and training programs for landowners regarding environmental legislation, as well as encouraging the creation and maintenance of protected areas and supporting the environmental compliance of the properties.
