To Protect the Amazon – We Have to Reforest It

The conversion of already deforested areas into sustainable productive systems can generate green jobs, increase regional income, and reduce pressure on the forest, according to a new study showing that the Amazon has 35 million hectares available for productive reforestation and currently captures only 3% of a global US$233 billion market in forest-compatible products. Authored by Salo Coslovsky and Beto Veríssimo, the study from the Amazônia 2030 project details how this strategy can reconcile environmental protection with economic development, proposing a national program built on state coordination, technology, and land tenure security.

The Policy Brief, “To protect the Amazon rainforest, we need to reforest the deforested areas,” presents a broad and feasible proposal to simultaneously address two historical challenges in the region: the lack of economic opportunities and the fragility of conservation efforts. The study shows that productive reforestation—recovering already cleared and currently underused areas through agroforestry systems, silviculture, and ecological restoration—can create quality jobs, increase incomes for Amazonian residents, and curb the advance of illegal activities that pressure the forest.

Among the key messages highlighted in the document are:

• Restoring degraded areas is the key to breaking the impasse between development and conservation.

• The Amazon has about 35 million hectares available for productive reforestation, with no need for additional clearing.

• The region generates US$7.2 billion per year from forest-compatible products, but this represents only 3% of a total market worth US$233 billion.

• Without green jobs, environmental protection is fragile, and recent setbacks show that conservation alone is not enough.

• A national productive reforestation program can generate income, capture carbon, restore ecosystems, and strengthen already established value chains.

The study notes that between 2013 and 2024, the Amazon lost 4.6 million more hectares of forest than it would have lost had deforestation remained at the historic 2012 low. The creation of protected areas stagnated, and the grabbing of public forestlands increased, while federal and state lawmakers weakened environmental protections.

This scenario is worsened by the lack of green jobs and sustainable businesses, which drives part of the population toward predatory activities such as illegal mining, land grabbing, and extensive cattle ranching. According to the authors, there will be no lasting conservation without local prosperity—and the solution lies in the areas that are already cleared.

Why productive reforestation works

The study demonstrates that productive reforestation has the conditions needed to be implemented at scale:

• There is real and growing demand for products such as açaí, cacao, bananas, cassava, fibers, and palm species.

• Modern agriculture has become technology-intensive, generating skilled jobs in both rural and urban areas.

• The forest restoration and carbon capture market is expanding, offering new revenue opportunities.

• The Amazon already has experienced entrepreneurs in these value chains and concrete examples of success.

• Brazil has accumulated important lessons on how to design effective productive development policies.

The authors propose a National Productive Reforestation Program built on five pillars:

1. Resolve land tenure issues, protecting public forests and regularizing long-deforested private lands.

2. Expand long-term financing, using future contracts—including carbon—as guarantees.

3. Develop technology and local capacity, focusing on advanced rural operations and agroforestry systems.

4. Reorient productive development policies to support established and competitive value chains.

5. Coordinate state action, ensuring predictability, scale, and clear targets.

Brazil has the conditions to move quickly on a program with simultaneous economic, social, and environmental impact. “Productive reforestation increases productivity, generates green jobs, and strengthens conservation. The Amazon can prosper without clearing more forest, and the country needs to act now,” the researchers say.