Command-and-control policies and the rule of law
An urgent prerequisite for addressing all the issues is the solidification of Brazil’s environmental command-and-control policy and the enforcement of rule of law that were effective in slowing deforestation until 2014. This will involve:
- Integrating security and military forces to support, but not replace, environmental protection agencies in tackling illegal deforestation, mining and drug-trafficking, especially where these activities threaten the indigenous population;
- Restoring adequate funding and resources for federal and state environmental protection agencies;
- Committing to revert deforestation to below the 2012 level (4,500 square kilometres); and
- Supporting full traceability in supply chains, for example by making livestock documents available to meat processors.
Science, technology and innovation
Private and public sector support for scientific collaboration between international academia and local partners can foster the progress of science and technology required for the blossoming of the Amazon bioeconomy. It can stimulate innovation within the institutions linked to the region’s natural capital and to the knowledge of the traditional populations, quilombolas and indigenous peoples, helping to realize the promises of the bioeconomy and Amazon 4.0. It can strengthen value chains for native fruits and nuts, and materials for the net zero local and global economy.
Economic activities
A diversified portfolio of economic activities should be fostered in the region, according to the ‘Four Amazons’ categorization (see Table 2, below).
Financial and trade instruments
The international community can promote mechanisms that increase the adoption of environmental, social and governance best practices in the Amazon. Investors and business partners are well placed to take the lead. These actions should focus on specific, measurable objectives which do not have a negative impact on the majority of the population of the region and avoid giving unintended competitive advantages to the less transparent economic agents inside or outside Brazil. The increasing number of commitments regarding the traceability of cattle and the long-standing moratorium on soya production in areas deforested in the Amazon biome after 2006 are two examples of successes in this sphere.
Support for the region and incentives for best practices can be expressed through trade agreements, investments or financial products that promote sustainable production and contribute to well-being on both sides of supply chains. Of particular interest are ways to recognize the value of different types of nature-based solutions, including maintenance of standing forest, natural regeneration and restoration. These include the development of financial instruments that remunerate such services and that are available in domestic and international markets, subject to objective criteria of integrity and additionality, as well as rigorous compliance mechanisms.
Financial instruments that encourage forms of performance-based payments for environmental services at the state and municipal level can strengthen the protection of the intact forest, including in the western Amazon. Lessons can be drawn from the Funbio (Brazilian Biodiversity Fund), a Brazilian non-profit organization created in 1996 to contribute to the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Funbio has provided resources for biodiversity conservation in Brazil for 25 years. One of its programmes, ARPA (see also Chapter Two), is the world’s largest conservation initiative on tropical forests. With an innovative public–private funding mechanism, ARPA connects public and private entities, the Ministry of the Environment, Funbio and executing agencies. Impact investment could also be extended to support the provision of and access to education, health, security and sanitation services to the local population in ways that are tied to conservation.
Land-use planning and land titling regularization
The international community can support the efforts of Brazil’s government and civil society to improve the land titling process. In particular, stakeholders can help to mobilize the means, technology and knowledge skills required to improve the property registration system, working directly with the state agencies and local registry offices, for example, to digitize, consolidate and systematize registrations, and integrating this information with other databases. This support has to be attentive not to weaken the regulation that protects small landholders and traditional populations, and be vigilant not to legitimize amnesties for areas that have been illegally deforested through speculation and land-grabbing. Advances in land titling can be most effective if allied to plans to promote the designation of state-owned land as protected areas, ensuring a balance between economic growth and the protection of nature.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure planning must be integrated and coordinated with spatial planning. It must be based on strategic land-use planning that allocates areas for conservation, production and urbanization. In the case of infrastructure for the Amazon, the focus should be on providing high-quality, reliable access to public services such as health, water, sanitation and education, including the internet and energy. As for provision in the Amazon, the focus should be on the development and implementation of clean infrastructure, with minimum environmental and social impact, that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and ensures the use of material with low embodied carbon.
Social issues
International stakeholders must take account of the expectations and desires of the Amazon’s residents. International involvement in the region should incorporate efforts to address the challenges faced by those living in the small towns, cities and municipalities across the Amazon. Provision of health, sanitation and education services, and access to infrastructure including digital infrastructure, remain critical and essential. Special care should be given to the protection of indigenous communities while ensuring their fair participation in the economic and social fabric of the region.
There is a need for public health and water, sanitation and hygiene programmes both to control the COVID-19 pandemic and to improve the living conditions of the more than 29 million inhabitants of the Amazon, including the indigenous peoples and the traditional populations. The international community can contribute through protection programmes and by supporting the civil society organizations that work with these groups.
A sustainable improvement in the educational attainments of children and adolescents is a further priority. The international community can finance states and municipalities, as well as the organizations that work on these issues.
Another important contribution is to support technical professional education related to the region’s natural resources and resource management, to create a cadre of specialized workers with knowledge of the local context. Public servants working for local government agencies also need training and support in this respect.
A varied portfolio of measures is needed
Sustained conservation of the rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon will require recognition of the complexity of the region. This has the potential to support a rich bio-based economy, but the goal will not be achieved without land-use planning that reflects the priorities of Brazilian society and promotes a balance between the environmental, social and economic needs of the 29 million people that live in the region. A differentiated approach is required for each of the ‘Four Amazons’, with a varied portfolio of economic activities and financial instruments. A successful outcome in one Amazon will depend on the successes achieved in the other three, as they are interdependent and interconnected. Table 2 below proposes some ‘building blocks’ that would help to achieve these long-term, sustainable socio-economic outcomes.
