The Brazilian Amazon deserves a new economic model that enables the conservation and sustainable use of its natural resources while contributing to an improved quality of life for its 28 million inhabitants. 

To this end, Brazil must commit to zero deforestation by 2030 and implement a land use plan in the region. These two pillars are essential for addressing the main factors that are deteriorating the economic environment of the Brazilian Amazon: criminality, violence, and inefficient land use. 

Driven by destructive practices, the predominant land uses in the region have replaced a valuable and strategic natural asset – the forest – with unproductive activities. As a result, the Brazilian Amazon has become the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the country(1). Furthermore, these practices have led to precarious living conditions for a large part of the population(2). 

Our article “The Amazon Paradox”(3) argues that this context of environmental destruction and socioeconomic vulnerability paradoxically presents three opportunities to establish a new pattern of regional development. First, it is imperative to optimize the use of vast deforested areas that are largely underutilized. This entails increasing the productivity of traditional agriculture and cattle ranching while promoting agroforestry systems, reforestation, and forest restoration. Second, it is crucial to unlock the socioeconomic potential of the forest through the development of the bioeconomy and to create mechanisms for receiving compensation for its environmental services, particularly carbon capture and storage. Thirdly, it is essential to take advantage of the region’s demographic dividend and the productive capacity of its available labor force, especially the 8 million adults who are currently not participating in the labor market.

THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON DEPENDS ON TWO PILLARS: 

• REDUCE DEFORESTATION TO ZERO AND
• COMPLETE AND IMPLEMENT A LAND USE PLAN FOR THE REGION

Zero deforestation and land use planning are necessary conditions for the Brazilian Amazon to seize these three opportunities. Otherwise, the country will fail to enhance regional productivity or attract significant investments to the region. It will also be impossible to capitalize on opportunities related to the bioeconomy and forest restoration or to ensure the responsible stewardship and profitability of the forest’s ecosystem services. 

In the Brazilian Amazon, there are still 143.6 million hectares of public lands without legally registered owners. The region’s land use regularization plan – which is the basis for the allocation of these lands – is currently governed by Brazilian legislation and must be conducted in compliance with the procedures outlined in the Constitution and national laws for the allocation of public lands: 

• Recognition of Indigenous Territories(4)
• Recognition of African-Brazilian (Quilombola) Territories(5)
• Recognition of Traditional Community Territories (Law No. 11284/2006, Article 6), often achieved through the establishment of Extractive Reserves and Sustainable Development Reserves(6)
• Areas designated for environmental conservation through the creation of Protected Areas or forest concessions (which can be located within or outside a Protected Area)(7)
• Access to land for family agriculture, either through the establishment of agrarian reform
• Settlement Projects or through land title regularization for properties of up to four fiscal modules (maximum of 400 hectares in the Brazilian Amazon)(8)
• Titling of medium and large private occupations (up to 2,500 hectares) without the need for public bidding, provided there is no overlap with previous claims and all requirements for receiving the land title are satisfied (Federal Law 11.952/2009, Art. 4)

It is therefore the obligation of the Brazilian State (Union and states) to lead the agenda of zero deforestation and land use planning.

1. plataforma.seeg.eco.br/total_emission
2. amazonia2030.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/FatosdaAmazonia_Socioeconomia.pdf
3. amazonia2030.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ParadoxoAmazonia_AMZ2030.pdf
4. Art. 231 of the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil of 1988
5. Art. 68 of the Transitory Constitutional Dispositions Act
6. On federal lands, Decree No. 9.311/2018 (Art. 10) indicates three types of environmentally differentiated settlements: the Agroextraction Settlement Project (PAE), the Sustainable Development Project (PDS) and the Forest Settlement Project (PAF)
7. Art. 225, §5 of the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil of 1988 and Federal Law 9.985/2000
8. Art. 188 of the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil of 1988, Law 8.629/1193 and Art. 2, §2 and §3 of Federal Law 4.504/1964